GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Eight passes, and every player on the court for Colorado Mesa touched the ball.

It culminated with a touch pass from the high post by Olivia Reed to a waiting Sophie Hadad for a crucial 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter Friday night (Jan. 19) that helped the Mavericks remain perfect at home in a 53-51 nail-biter over Black Hills State.

Kylie Kravig called the play in the half-court and the Mavericks started screening and cutting. The ball went from Kravig to Hadad, then to Reed in the post. Out it went to Laura Gutierrez in the corner, who threw it back to Kravig. Off it went to Mason Rowland, who fed Reed at the free throw line. The ball hit her fingertips before it went right back to Hadad for her fourth 3-pointer of the game and a 42-38 CMU lead.

"That was just a big momentum swing," Reed said of her big assist. "In general, teams tend to help a lot in the post so I feel like when we're able to get it in and get those in-rhythm kick-out 3s it's really hard to guard and when we're able to capitalize on it, it's pretty tough."

About 30 second later, it was Reed who connected for a 3-pointer from the top of the key, then Gutierrez took a skip pass from Rowland and swished a 3 to break a 45-45 tie with just more than four minutes remaining.

But as nearly all games between CMU and Black Hills go, it was still anyone's game in the final minute.

Reed, who finished with 11 points and nine rebounds, posted up for a layup with just more than one minute to play for a 52-49 lead and then came up with a crucial defensive play in the final seconds.

With CMU clinging to a one-point lead, Black Hills (8-5, 5-4 RMAC) called time with 18.1 seconds to play, 11 on the shot clock. The Mavericks' defense swarmed to the ball, and Alessia Capley ended up with the ball in the high post. Reed had her path to the basket stopped, and she picked up her dribble, but couldn't find an open teammate. She lost her balance and hit the floor, drawing a traveling call with 9.1 seconds on the clock.

The Mavericks called time to advance the ball to the front court, but the Yellow Jackets had plenty of fouls to give, and used them all.

At that point, Black Hills had only one team foul in the quarter — CMU had two — and the Yellow Jackets fouled on four successive inbounds plays, finally putting Kravig at the line with 4.6 seconds remaining.

"With about two minutes to go I looked up and we were telling our team, hey, if we get beat (on a drive), we have fouls to give so we don't give up a layup," CMU coach Taylor Wagner said. "But I also knew they only had one, so it's gonna be, OK, we're gonna have to inbound this and execute it and we did. … I was like, oh, man, we've got to do this five times, or four times, but luckily the girls did a great job and we finished it out."

Kravig made the first of two shots, which actually worked in the Mavs' favor when Capley got the defensive rebound and had to burn precious seconds in the backcourt. A desperation half-court shot came after the horn and fell well short, moving CMU to 13-4, 7-3 in the RMAC and 7-0 at Brownson Arena.

Hadad led CMU with 14 points, attacking the basket early, which helped open up her perimeter game.

"I'm starting to be more aggressive early on instead of waiting for the game to come to me, finding those open lanes," Hadad said. "Liv is such a great passer and we know that she's getting doubled, so it's just finding the open seams."

Mesa's defense didn't allow a 3-pointer after the first quarter — Black Hills made three of five in the first 10 minutes, but was 0-for-6 after that. Conversely, CMU made 9 of 25 from beyond the arc, with Gutierrez hitting three of seven. Kravig finished with nine assists — CMU was credited with an assist on all but two of its 19 made baskets — and Reed was one rebound shy of a double-double. She had nine rebounds midway through the second quarter, but was on the bench most of the third quarter after picking up her third foul.

"It was a classic Black Hills-Colorado Mesa game," Wagner said. "It came down to the last possession, the last minute. They're a great team and I thought they played a heck of a game. Neither one of us was deserving of (losing) that; I'm just glad we're on the winning side. Last week we were on the losing side and this week we were able to get that, so I'm happy for our girls. That was a big win for us."