GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — As students head back to campus for the start of the spring semester, the Mavericks open their longest homestand of the season on Friday (Jan. 19) — a whopping three games — with crucial conference games.
The Mavericks, 12-4, 6-3 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, welcome Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines to Brownson Arena, where CMU is a perfect 6-0 this season. They have only one game the following week, but it's a big one against rival Fort Lewis in the annual Blizzard in Brownson on Jan. 26. All three games tip off at 5:30 p.m.
Coming off a road split last week, the Mavericks have won three of their four games in 2024 and have seen signs of taking steps forward, both as a team and individually.
Mesa's defense showed marked improvement in their first three games after the holiday break, including holding their opponents under 50 points in two — and under 35 in one of those — although it took a step back in the second half in a loss to Colorado Christian last weekend, allowing 35 second-half points, 21 in the fourth quarter.
CMU coach Taylor Wagner has gone deeper into his bench than the seven-player rotation he was primarily using before the break, with Mykaela Moore's minutes increasing from roughly five minutes a game to 11.5 points the past four games. Lauryn Deede logged 16 minutes in the post against Colorado Christian.
Freshman Mason Rowland has averaged 18 points a game in 2024 — she's the second-leading scorer on the team at 15.4 per game — but the biggest breakthrough has been guard Laura Gutierrez.
The Mavs' lone senior has put up three straight games in double figures after going scoreless in the previous two. She's averaged 14 points a game in those three games, hitting 10 of her 21 3-pointers for the season.
ABOUT LAST WEEK
CMU drove into the arctic blast of Chadron, Nebraska, last week, where temperatures were below zero and the wind chill made it even colder, when they tipped off. Behind Olivia Reed's 28 points and some lock-down defense in the second half, the Mavericks came away with a 70-49 victory.
The Mavericks were down two at halftime, but outscored the Eagles 30-8 in the third quarter to put the game on ice (pun intended).
It didn't get much warmer in Lakewood the next night, and the Mavericks went ice-cold from the field in the fourth quarter, making only 3 of 14 shots as Colorado Christian rallied for a 65-63 victory, snapping the Mavs' eight-game winning streak against the Cougars.
The loss dropped CMU from a tie to second in the RMAC into a tie for fourth place with the Cougars and Adams State. Wagner expects the Mavericks to learn from what happened down the stretch and get back to playing solid defense, which leads to efficient offense. CMU has not lost back-to-back games this season.
"Before (the CCU game), we're tied for second and in a good place and then you lose and you drop all the way down and now there's kind of a logjam where there's four or five teams with the same record," Wagner said. "It hurt us, but hopefully it doesn't hinder what we can do this weekend to get back on track. That's the thing we always say, there's always one play that seems to get them on their run or there's one play that gets us going on our run.
"There's always that win that gets you on a streak and there's a loss that can get you on a losing streak. This game is crazy and one thing can change the momentum of a game. Hopefully that wasn't one that affects us too much."
DROPPING DIMES
Kylie Kravig recorded 15 assists last weekend, giving her 97 for the season and 280 for her career. That mark moved her into 10th all-time at CMU. The 10 assists against Chadron State were two off her career high, and she picked off a career-high five steals.
CMU finished the Chadron State game with 22 assists on 26 made baskets.
ANOTHER POW
Olivia Reed earned her second RMAC Defensive Player of the Week award this season after grabbing 18 rebounds, with five steals and four blocked shots in the Mavericks' road split. She had nine rebounds against both Chadron State and Colorado Christian and blocked two shots in each game. She came up with three steals against Chadron State and two more against the Cougars.
The 6-foot sophomore forward from Windsor also shot 69.2 percent from the field on the weekend.
CMU STAT PACK
Reed is fourth in scoring in the RMAC at 17.4 points a game and is second in rebounding at 11.1 per game. She continues to lead the conference in field goal percentage, 60.7 and is third in blocked shots with 17.
Mason Rowland is eighth in scoring, averaging 15.4 points, and Josee Steadman is second in 3-point percentage, 41.6. Rowland is second in free throw percentage, making 76 of 89, 85.4 percent.
Kravig is No. 1 in assists with 97, an average of 6.1 per game, and has a 2.0 assist-to-turnover ratio, the best in the RMAC.
As a team, CMU is fourth in scoring at 70.5 points a game, and is second in defense, allowing 59.2 (behind Black Hills' 57.3). The Mavs' scoring margin is the highest in the conference, 11.3 points per game. Mesa shoots 42.9 percent from the field, which ranks No. 2, and makes 77.5 percent of free throws, which is third in the RMAC.
The Mavs make 7.5 shots from behind the 3-point line per game, third in the conference, shooting 32.3 percent, fifth-best among RMAC teams.
Their +6.0 rebound margin is second behind Black Hills State's +6.3, and they have the top assist-to-turnover ratio in the conference at 1.21 (272 assists/17.0 pg, 224 turnovers/14.0 pg).
Nationally, Reed is fourth in total rebounds with 179 and 12th in rebounds per game and seventh in field goal percentage. Kravig fifth in total assists.
As a team, the Mavericks are seventh in assist-to-turnover ratio in Division II.
SERIES HISTORY
Colorado Mesa is 13-8 against Black Hills State, with a 10-1 record at Brownson Arena. The Yellow Jackets, though, have won the past two meetings, both in Spearfish, S.D.
The Mavericks are 9-0 against South Dakota Mines, 4-0 at home. The teams started playing one another in 2016, when the Hardrockers joined the RMAC. Last season's meeting in Rapid City, S.D., was a close one, with CMU holding on 68-61.
SCOUTING THE YELLOW JACKETS
Black Hills State (8-4, 5-3 RMAC) lost three starters off last year's team, but the Yellow Jackets appear to be trending upwards since the holiday break, winning two of three in January.
Morgan Hammerbeck, a 5-11 senior forward, is coming off a career-high 23 points in an overtime win against Fort Lewis that halted the Skyhawks' four-game winning streak. Hammerbeck averages 9.4 points and 5.3 rebounds a game — the 'Jackets do not have anyone averaging in double figures, but seven players average over five points a game.
They outscore their opponents by less than five points, with their biggest victory a 20-point win over MSU Denver and their biggest loss coming to Colorado School of Mines by 16 the next night. Black Hills State hits the glass hard, outrebounding opponents by more than six per game, and had 50 rebounds against Fort Lewis.
Black Hills hasn't lost back-to-back games all season, but the Yellow Jackets also haven't won more than two games in a row.
SCOUTING THE HARDROCKERS
After a 2-11 start, South Dakota Mines (4-11, 4-5 RMAC) shocked Adams State two weeks ago, the Hardrockers' first win against a ranked team since 2018.
They enter the weekend on a two-game winning streak, with their leading scorer, Piper Bauer, coming off a career-high 30 points against the Grizzlies. Bauer, a junior guard, averages 17 points a game and is a threat from beyond the arc, making 51 3-pointers so far this season in 126 attempts (40.5 percent).
Nine players have started at least one game for the 'Rockets, who average only 58.7 points a game and give up 71.6, but scored a season-high 73 twice in the past three games, a 77-73 loss to Fort Lewis and a 73-62 win over Western Colorado. Turnovers have been an issue, giving the ball away 17 times a game, leading to nearly 19 points a game for opponents.
Savea Mansfield scores 8.8 points a game and Madelyn Heiser 7.2. Morning Grace Spotted Bear, a 6-foot redshirt freshman forward, chips in 6.6 points a game and is the Hardrockers' leading rebounder at 6.5 per game.
THE COACHES
Taylor Wagner is 256-81 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. He's a five-time RMAC Coach of the Year recipient, including three consecutive years, from 2013-2015.
Mark Nore took over as the Yellow Jackets' head coach five games into the 2002-03 season and has posted a 381-234 record, the most wins in program history. Black Hills won the 2020-21 RMAC Tournament and he's guided his team to the NCAA Tournament four times, plus four trips to the NAIA national playoffs. This month, Nore, a Black Hills State graduate, added another title — Interim Athletic Director — after Scott Larson resigned effective Jan. 5, citing personal and family reasons.
Jeri Jacobson Owsley is in her fourth season as the South Dakota Mines head coach and enters the weekend with a 43-74 record with two appearances in the RMAC Tournament. She was previously the director of basketball operations at North Dakota, then an assistant coach at Idaho from 2015-19 before behind hired by the Hardrockers.
DYK?
Olivia Reed and Mykaela Moore will face three former high school teammates this weekend — Kylie Sanger, a redshirt sophomore guard at Black Hills State, and Samantha Darnell, a freshman guard, and Alexis Backhaus, a 5-10 sophomore guard, at South Dakota Mines. All five prepped at Windsor High School.
