GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — After securing its ninth straight home victory last week, the Colorado Mesa women's basketball team takes its game on the road Tuesday for a midweek game against rival Western Colorado.
The Mavericks used an outstanding defensive effort in the second half and an 11-0 opening run coming out of halftime to take control in their 87-61 victory over Fort Lewis last weekend.
CMU, which averages eight made 3-pointers per game, hit a season-high 15, led by Laura Gutierrez, who made five. CMU also out-rebounded the Skyhawks 43-20, with 14 offensive rebounds to Fort Lewis' two.
The week continues Thursday (Feb. 1) when the Mavericks are back at Brownson to play Westminster University. Tuesday's road game tips off at 5 p.m. at Paul Wright Gymnasium in Gunnison and can be live-streamed on the RMAC Network. Thursday's game tips off at 5:30 p.m. at Brownson Arena.
Three of CMU's four losses came in the opponents' gym, with another on a neutral floor. Two of those road losses went down to the wire, a double-overtime setback to Colorado School of Mines and a two-point loss at Colorado Christian.
Olivia Reed averages a double-double for CMU (15-4, 9-3 RMAC), 16.5 points and 10.9 rebounds a game. She's blocked 23 shots and has 23 steals. Mason Rowland, who averages nearly 27 minutes of playing time off the bench, is scoring 15.1 points a game. The freshman guard from Durango led the Mavericks with 19 points against her hometown school last week. Kylie Kravig leads the RMAC with 118 assists and has a 2.1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
THE STANDINGS
With their victory last week, the Mavericks maintained their spot in the RMAC standings, tied for third with Adams State at 9-3. Colorado School of Mines is 12-1 and Regis 11-2. Western Colorado (2-10) is 13th and Westminster (1-12) is 15th.
The top eight teams receive spots in the RMAC Tournament, with the top four hosting first-round games on March 5. The highest remaining seed will host the semifinal and championship rounds March 8-9. The tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the eight-team South Central Regional playoffs.
IN THE POLLS
CMU is still No. 8 in the D2 Conference Sports Communicators South Central Region rankings. Colorado School of Mines is No. 1, with fellow RMAC schools Regis ranked fourth and Adams State ninth.
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. The Mountaineers were picked to finish 13th and Westminster 12th in the 15-team conference.
SERIES HISTORY
The Mavs have a 56-14 record all-time against Western Colorado, including a 59-48 victory last February in Gunnison. The Mountaineers stunned CMU 61-60 at Brownson Arena in the first meeting last season on a last-second putback. At Paul Wright Gymnasium in Gunnison, CMU is 25-10 all-time.
CMU also leads the series against Westminster, 12-7, but lost the past two, including February's contest at Brownson, 62-49. Overall, CMU has won seven of the 10 meetings at Brownson Arena.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
Western Colorado (4-13, 2-10) is coming off a 70-61 road victory against MSU Denver, with Rachel Cockman and Ivey Schmidt scoring 21 points each.
Cockman, a 6-foot-2 junior forward, leads Western in scoring and rebounding, averaging 17.6 points and 8.2 rebounds a game. She's a threat in the paint on both sides of the floor, shooting 46 percent and has blocked 16 shots.
Jayda Maves is the Mountaineers' main 3-point threat, making 45 in 127 attempts (35.4 percent) and averaging 12.2 points, with Schmidt chipping in 8.6 points a game.
Western is scoring only 58.6 points a game, shooting 38.5 percent from the field. Opponents are outscoring Western by 6.2 points per game.
Western started the season 2-3, but then dropped nine in a row to open conference play. They finally halted that skid with a 10-point win over New Mexico Highlands and pushed Colorado School of Mines before falling by eight points before their win at MSU Denver.
SCOUTING THE GRIFFINS
A unique schedule to open the season, with back-to-back games against the same opponent the first two weekends, had Westminster at 2-2. The Griffins lost twice at the Arkansas Fort Smith, then beat Alaska Fairbanks twice in Salt Lake City.
Like Western, Westminster (3-16, 1-12) hit a skid when the conference season opened, losing 11 in a row, nine to RMAC teams. The Griffins traveled to the Pacific Northwest right after the holiday break, losing to Seattle Pacific and Central Washington.
They got their first conference win against South Dakota Mines, but have lost three straight entering Thursday's game.
Westminster is scoring only 53.9 points a game and is being outscored by more than 12 points a night, shooting 38 percent from the field and allowing teams to shoot 43 percent. Turnovers have been an issue, with the Griffins turning it over 19 times a game, leading to 18 points per game.
Sophomore guard Teuila Nawahine averages 12.7 points and 4.6 rebounds a game, with senior forward Elizabeth Means adding 10.5 points and 4.5 boards. Means has 21 blocked shots and junior forward Maunayia Harrigfeld, a transfer from Idaho State, 20 more.
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.
Adam Jacobson is in his second year at Western Colorado and has a 10-34 record. He went to Gunnison after two years as the head coach at North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton, N.D., a Division I NJCAA school. He led the Wildcats to a 44-12 record and a spot in the 2021-22 NJCAA national tournament.
Westminster's first-year coach Asami Morita is 3-16 in her first head coaching job in the U.S. She was the head coach at her alma mater, Kansai University in Osaka, Japan, for two years, then was an assistant at Arizona Western, Robert Morris and Nevada Reno.
DYK?
Colorado Mesa averages more than 17 assists per game, and in the past three games has 60 assists on 71 made baskets, including all but two baskets against Black Hills State and three against Fort Lewis. The Mavs lead the RMAC with a 1.26 assist-to-turnover ratio.
