GOLDEN, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa women's basketball team's season has ended after a hard fought 66-60 loss to second-seeded and No. 21 ranked Colorado School of Mines on Tuesday (Feb. 28) evening at Lockridge Arena in the opening round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament.
 
Colorado Mesa never led in the game and committed 16 turnovers which led to 16 Oredigger points. Despite that, the Mavericks kept crawling back into the game and cut the lead to five at 61-56 with just 58 second left and had to five several time in the fourth quarter but couldn't get any closer.
 
Mines defense suffocated freshman Olivia Reed all night as she finished with just three shots in which she made two of them. She added eight rebounds and two blocked shots.
 
The Maverick defense did its job well enough as they limited the Orediggers to 35 percent shooting from the field and 23 percent from beyond the arc. Mines committed only eight turnovers which the Mavericks converted into just four points.
 
Tia Slade kept it close for the Mavericks in the first half as she scored a team-high 19 points on 8-for-14 shooting from the field. She added seven rebounds and a steal.
 
The Mavericks got a huge boost off the bench from Grand Junction native Leah Redding as she scored a career-high 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field including 3-for-4 from the free-throws. She came into the night with her previous career-high of four and had scored just 27 points on the season prior to this evening.
 
Monica Brooks finished with 13 points in her final game as a Maverick.
 
The Mavericks end their season with an overall record of 13-16.