GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Kyle Rowland knew it was coming.

"That was one of the plays we scouted, and I was a little out of position, so I was like, I just gotta get there somehow and was trying to stand my ground, but I guess my feet weren't set," the senior guard for Colorado College said with a grin Saturday night.

She was trying to stop a player she knows better than anyone — her kid sister, Mason Rowland, a sophomore guard at Colorado Mesa.

Kyle and Mason grew up playing basketball together, including two years together at Durango High School. Kyle went to Colorado College after high school, and two years later, Mason signed with Colorado Mesa.

As a Division III school, Colorado College wouldn't usually play Division II Colorado Mesa, but the two coaches, CC's Katherine Auguste and CMU's Taylor Wagner, set up an exhibition game so the sisters could play one another, a first for the Rowlands.

"I think the build-up, definitely like (Kyle) said, it's what we've been waiting for since we found out about it in the spring," said Mason, who led all scorers with 24 points in the Mavericks' 85-53 victory. "I think we were just waiting for that one chance to guard each other and took advantage of it.

"She sure tried to take a charge. She probably did, but it's in the ref's hands at that point. I think it's just the opportunity; we can say that we got to do this and other people can't."

They didn't guard each other often, a couple of possessions in the first half, and then when Mason drove to the basket with about a minute left in the third quarter and crashed into Kyle.

As Mason helped her older sister off the floor, they were both laughing.

In the stands, their parents, Greg and Brady Rowland, had on "Migers" jerseys, half black for CC, half white for CMU. Mason's No. 15 was on the front and Kyle's 24 on the back under "Rowland."

"I will give the credit to Kyle," Mason said of the jerseys. "That was her idea."

"My parents were definitely a little stressed leading up to it, just given the fact that we're both very competitive," said Kyle, who hit one 3-pointer for the Tigers. "The more we could take a little stress off of them, the easier it would be, so we came up with the Kelce split jersey (like the NFL brothers did for their mother at the Super Bowl between Philadelphia and Kansas City) and tried to recreate it a little bit."

While she was still in high school, Mason would make trips to Colorado Springs as often as she could with her parents to watch Kyle play, but the schedules didn't work last season to where she could attend a Tigers game.

Kyle drove to Golden last season to watch her sister play against Colorado School of Mines, and they watch one another online when possible.

"The game last year at Mines, I made the trip up there, so that was my first time seeing her in a collegiate setting, which was awesome," Kyle said. "And she played great (23 points in a double-overtime loss), but this was a little more personal, which was fun.

"And playing defense on your sister, not many people can say that they did that, so it's a cool opportunity. She's worked very hard for this and where she is, and I'm proud of her for that."

Mason credits her sister for pushing her when they were young, and toughening her up.

"We've always been teammates up until now," Mason said. "So to be on the opposing team was a little hard, I think, to see her in a different color jersey. But she's my sister first of all, she pushed me all throughout high school, even when we were little kids, it was like, let's go, come on, keep up, all that sort of stuff. I attribute so much of everything to (her older siblings). They helped me so much, and she truly took me under her wing, and I can't thank her enough for that."

There was a point when Mason got a little taller than her sister — she's 5-foot-7 now, Kyle is 5-5 — and a little stronger, but neither backed down playing one another growing up, or on Saturday.

They gave one another a quick hug in the handshake line after the game and were eager to see their parents afterwards before Kyle got on the bus back to Colorado Springs.

"It was definitely an experience, super unique," Kyle said. "I think the buildup to the game was a lot, we've known about it for four or five months and this week definitely felt real. It was super fun.

"Mason's obviously such a great athlete, so it's nice to just compete against someone like that and that caliber, but also being family, that's something I've never experienced and I don't think a lot of people can say they've experienced it. It was just a really unique opportunity."

Kyle admires how hard her sister plays — neither sister backs down.

"Mason's the kind of player that plays with heart before anything else," she said. "The heart, the grit, the determination, like you're not going to find that anyplace else, the hustle, never giving up on a play and always moving forward. She wants to get better, and that's something that I've always looked up to and admired about her."

And all the challenges her sister issued helped make Mason the player she is.

"I think she helped me a lot with my mindset and just moving forward onto the next play, like I can't dwell on the past because it already happened," Mason said. "She always was there for me, to tell me to pick my head up, fix my body language, stuff like that.

"I can't thank her enough for all the mind growth that she had. She always pushed me around, too, so that helped a little bit."