GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — The majority of Colorado Mesa's women's basketball team will get its first look at Chadron, Nebraska, and the Chicoine Center this weekend when the Mavericks travel to play Chadron State on Friday night (Jan. 12).
A scheduling quirk had the Eagles traveling to Grand Junction the past two seasons and because of the unbalanced conference schedule, the Mavericks didn't make a return trip.
The last time CMU played in Chadron was December of 2020, a 78-28 victory. Only one current Maverick was on that team — junior guard Sophie Hadad played 14 minutes and scored two points.
The only other Maverick to play a college game at Chadron State is senior Laura Gutierrez, who played 24 minutes for Adams State in the Grizzlies' 63-61 loss in 2022, the season before she transferred to CMU.
On Saturday, the Mavericks will play their first rematch of the season when they face Colorado Christian in Lakewood. The teams played a nonconference game in November on a neutral floor at MSU Denver, with the Mavericks winning 77-61.
LAST TIME OUT
If the opening weekend is any indication, 2024 is going to be a good year for the Mavericks.
An increased emphasis on defense led CMU to a pair of wins at Brownson Arena, 74-59 over CSU Pueblo and a 70-34 blowout of New Mexico Highlands. The ThunderWolves came into Brownson averaging 65.7 points a game and Highlands was scoring 56.8 points a game. It was the lowest-scoring game of the season for the Cowgirls and the fewest the Mavs have allowed this season.
On the weekend, the Mavericks held their opponents to 32.7 percent shooting and allowed only six 3-pointers, three each game. Conversely, CMU shot 47.1 percent from the field and made 17 from beyond the arc, including a dozen against the Cowgirls, tying their season high.
SENIOR STEPPING UP
Laura Gutierrez, the only senior on the roster, gave CMU a lift Saturday night against New Mexico Highlands, scoring a season-high 13 points, including hitting four of seven 3-point attempts in what the Mavericks hope is a breakout offensive game for her. Gutierrez was CMU's offensive spark off the bench last season, when she averaged 8.2 points a game, third on the team, and hit a team-leading 40 3-pointers. She's scoring 7.6 points and has made 15 threes so far this season.
FIRST POW AWARD
Guard Mason Rowland was selected the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week after her career-high 30 points against CSU Pueblo. It's the first conference award for the freshman from Durango, who added 15 points against Highlands. She's second on the team in scoring at 15.7 points per game despite coming off the bench all season.
BUILDING THE BENCH
With the second half of the season starting, CMU coach Taylor Wagner is looking to expand the role the bench plays. Through the first 13 games, he primarily used only two subs, Rowland and Josee Steadman, but last weekend turned to sophomore guard Mykaela Moore, who played 14 quality minutes against CSU Pueblo and another 13 solid minutes against New Mexico Highlands. Moore scored five total points, but played good defense on the perimeter in both games. Moore, who played high school basketball with Olivia Reed at Windsor, will be facing her former team, Colorado Christian, this weekend. She transferred to CMU this season. Lauryn Deede also provided good minutes in the post, and with a 40-point lead against Highlands, Wagner was able to go deep into the bench, playing 14 players in all.
COMMON OPPONENTS
All three teams have played CSU Pueblo, New Mexico Highlands, Regis and CU-Colorado Springs. The Mavericks beat all four teams, with Chadron losing to all four. The Cougars have a split, beating CSU Pueblo and UCCS but losing to Highlands and Regis. Mesa and Chadron have wins over MSU Denver and both CMU and Colorado Christian lost to Colorado School of Mines.
Colorado Mesa defeated CCU in a nonconference game in November, 77-61, at MSU Denver.
THE STANDINGS
CMU's sweep last weekend propelled the Mavericks (11-3, 5-2) into a tie for third place in the RMAC, one game behind Adams State (11-4, 6-1). Colorado School of Mines (12-1, 7-0) continues to lead the conference. Tied with the Mavericks are Regis and Fort Lewis.
JUST THE STATS
Olivia Reed is sixth in scoring in the RMAC (16.9) and continues to lead the conference in rebounding (11.4), which ranks fourth nationally. Mason Rowland is eighth in scoring (15.7) in the RMAC. Reed is second in field goal percentage (59.4), Josee Steadman is second in 3-point percentage (43.3) and eighth in 3-pointers made per game (2.1) and Rowland is second in free throw percentage (86.1).
Kylie Kravig continues to lead the RMAC in assists (5.9), which is seventh in Division II, and is tied for second in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.0) in the RMAC.
Reed's six double-doubles are tied for 12th in Division II.
CMU is fourth in scoring in the RMAC at 71.1 points per game and is second in team defense, allowing 59.5. Mesa's 11.9-point scoring margin is second in the conference and its 43.0 percent shooting is second in the RMAC. CMU is also second in rebound margin at 7.4, averaging 40 per game, third in the conference, and allowing 32.6, the second-fewest in the RMAC. The Mavs are tops in assists at 16.86 per game.
RMAC COACHES POLL
Colorado Mesa was picked to place sixth in the conference in preseason voting by the RMAC head coaches. Regis was tabbed No. 1, followed by Colorado School of Mines, CSU Pueblo, Adams State and Black Hills State. Colorado Christian was picked 10th and Chadron State 15th.
SERIES HISTORY
CMU leads Chadron State 38-10 and has won 19 straight in the series. The Mavericks are 14-8 all-time at the Chicoine Center, with their last loss in 2010. Their closest win in Chadron was 64-63 in 2018.
The Mavericks are 30-9 against Colorado Christian, including the past eight meetings. Games at the CCU Events Center are often close, but CMU is 10-7 in Lakewood. Mesa's last loss to the Cougars came in February of 2019, a 61-55 setback.
ABOUT THE EAGLES
Shay Powers leads the 4-7 Eagles (2-5 RMAC) in scoring at 11.7 points and in rebounding at 6.1 boards per game. The 5-10 junior forward shoots 56.3 percent from the field. Junior guard Kylie Krise, coming off a 23-point night against MSU Denver, adds 8.1 points a game, with sophomore guards Liberty Line and Kyra Tanabe 6.5 each and Allison Olsen 6.3. Center Awoti Akoi, a 6-3 junior transfer from Wayne State, averages 6.2 points a game and has 17 blocked shots.
ABOUT THE COUGARS
Maggie Hutka comes off the bench for Colorado Christian (8-5, 4-3), but is the Cougars' leading scorer at 17.5 points per game.
Dasiya Jones, a 6-1 junior guard who transferred from Regis two years ago, averages 9.8 points and 7.8 rebounds a game, with Maggie Phipps a 3-point threat with a team-high 25 so far. Victoria Perez has hit 22 from long distance in a reserve role. Six Cougars average between 6.4 and 9.8 points.
In their previous meeting, played at MSU Denver, the Mavericks won 77-61 after scoring 24 first-quarter points. They could never quite shake the Cougars until Sophie Hadad's 3-pointer in the final minute of the third quarter opened up a 16-point lead.
THE COACHES
Taylor Wagner is 253-79 as Colorado Mesa's head coach, with seven 20-win seasons and two with 30 wins. Wagner led the Mavericks to the Division II Elite Eight in 2013, has seven NCAA Tournament appearances and nine total RMAC championships.
Travis Brewster is in his first season at Chadron, hired in August of 2023. He had been the head coach at Saint Xavier University in Chicago, taking the Cougars to the 2021-22 NAIA national tournament. He previously coached at the University of North Dakota and was an assistant coach at South Dakota State and Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Diane Thompson is in her third season at CCU after spending two years as an assistant at Regis University. Prior to that, she was the girls head coach at Dakota Ridge High School.
The Cougars won nine games her first season and 10 last year. Their 8-5 start is their best in her tenure — CCU was 6-3 to open last season before losing seven straight games in December and January.
DYK?
Although the majority of the Mavericks will get their first look at the Chicoine Center this week, it'll be a homecoming of sorts for Olivia Reed. Her father, Houston Reed, was the men's head coach at Chadron State from 2016-2020, so Olivia started her high school career at Chadron High School. She averaged 17.3 points and 7.2 rebounds a game as a sophomore for the Cardinals, leading them to the state tournament. Before her junior year, her father was hired as an assistant coach at Northern Colorado, so the family moved to Windsor, where Olivia earned a pair of all-state honors at Windsor High School.
Houston Reed and CMU coach Taylor Wagner have known one another for years — they worked together at Otero Junior College, where Reed was the men's head coach and Wagner the women's head coach.
