GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — With four returning starters and a reserve who played starter's minutes moving into the first five, longtime Colorado Mesa women's basketball fans won't be wondering who's who during player introductions.
When coach Taylor Wagner goes to the bench, however, fans will need to check the roster.
Seven reserves who played between 3-8 minutes a game last season are battling for bigger roles this season, and Wagner signed three transfers, two of whom should be the first guard and post player off the bench. Five freshmen were added to the 23-player roster.
The Mavericks open the season Friday, Nov. 8, at 1:30 p.m. against West Texas A&M in the D2 Conference Challenge in Odessa, Texas. On Saturday, the Mavericks face host Texas Permian Basin at 4:30 p.m.
Leading the Mavs again are Olivia Reed Thyne, the RMAC Player of the Year in 2023-24, and Mason Rowland, last season's RMAC Freshman of the Year. Rowland came off the bench in every game, but played more than 27 minutes a night and was second on the team in scoring at 14.6 points.
Rowland is the lone new starter this season, a seamless transition to the starting lineup after being on the floor with the first unit so much last season.
Reed Thyne, who was also the Academic Player of the Year and a WBCA All-American, averaged 17.2 points and 11.3 rebounds a game. After working to improve her shooting range a year ago, she has become a 3-point threat, and continued to hone her face-up skills to be a consistent mid-range shooter to complement her strong moves in the post.
Senior Kylie Kravig is a seasoned point guard, in her third year as a starter. Kravig averaged 7.6 points a game last season and led the RMAC with 180 assists, 5.6 per game. In the Mavs' exhibition game against Colorado College, she not only was distributing the ball, with 10 assists, but was a scoring threat, with nine points. She didn't have a turnover in 31 minutes of playing time, picking up where she left off last season, with the second-best assist-to-turnover ratio in the conference at 2.0.
A year into the system, senior forward Claire Heitschmidt looks more comfortable on both ends of the floor, with the Mavericks looking to her to take some of the post pressure off Reed. Heitschmidt scored 5.3 points and grabbed 4.1 rebounds a game last season.
Small forward Sophie Hadad provides perimeter offense and the ability to slash in from the wing, averaging 6 points and 3 rebounds in her first year as a starter.
It's all about defense for the Mavericks to fuel the offense. CMU had the top defense on the conference last season, allowing 56.7 points per game, the only team to hold opponents under 60 points. Teams shot 36.3% against CMU, the lowest in the conference, and the Mavs were third in 3-point defense at 29.7%. By holding offenses down, the Mavericks had a rebound margin of 8 per game, the best in the conference.
A share of the RMAC regular-season championship helped the Mavericks earn the No. 2 seed in the South Central Regional, where they lost in the semifinals.
"We just want to pick up where we left off last year," Wagner said. "We want to continue with that momentum, but we've got to get better. I think we've added a few pieces but a lot of the girls put in a lot of work this summer and this fall to have a good year."
NEW NAME, WHO DIS?
The reigning RMAC Player of the Year has a new name — Olivia Reed Thyne.
The junior forward married Austin Thyne, a guard on the CMU men's basketball team, in June of 2023. This past summer, Reed legally changed her name to Thyne.
She'll remain Olivia Reed in the NCAA's eyes — the statistics program makes changing a player's name problematic, and has resulted in players' statistics not merging correctly or being deleted. To avoid that, the sports information office will keep her official stats under her maiden name.
MEET THE NEW MAVS
The addition of fifth-year seniors Riley Hayes and Brooklyn Palmer should give CMU outside and inside scoring off the bench.
Hayes, a 5-foot-8 guard with a quick release and deep range, came in from Arkansas-Fort Smith, and Palmer, a 6-foot-2 forward who will provide post scoring and can shoot the 3, transferred from Texas-Tyler. Palmer started against the Mavericks in the regional semifinals last season, with six points and one rebound.
"Those fifth-year seniors we brought in are doing a great job, obviously a little older and more mature and been through a lot of battles, so they've kind of fit in seamlessly," Wagner said. "There's always a transition for them trying to pick up on the system and what we want, but I feel like they've done a phenomenal job so far."
Five freshman guards signed with the Mavericks out of Colorado high schools, with four slated to redshirt.
Jenna Krise (5-11) was the two-time Class 1A player of the year at Briggsdale High School, leading the Falcons to a pair of state championships, averaging 27 points a game as a senior, and will be on the active roster.
Another two-time state champion, Kinsey Trujillo (5-10), came in from Roosevelt High School in Firestone, which won the Class 5A title the past two seasons. Sienna Pillsbury (5-7), signed out of Rock Canyon High School, which reached the Class 6A Elite Eight last season; Sedonia Isenbart (5-8), played at Stratton High School; Sophia Sabus (5-11) played at Ralston Valley, where she was a two-time All-State selection. Those four freshmen will redshirt, leaving them with four years of eligibility.
One player to keep an eye on from those who played sparingly last season is 5-7 redshirt sophomore guard Macy Larsen, who saw action in only two games last season before missing the rest of the year with an injury. She should be one of the first guards off the bench. Senior Lauryn Deedee has been a solid role player in the post throughout her career.
SITTING THIS ONE OUT
Junior Tia Slade, who started two years ago but missed all of last season with an injury, was reinjured during preseason practice and will also miss this season. Tamryn Blom, a 5-10 junior forward out of Western Wyoming Community College, is also out for the season with an injury.
Sophomore guards Joslyn Spires and Cayden King plan to redshirt, giving the Mavericks 14 active players.
IN THE POLLS
The Women's Basketball Coaches Association preseason rankings has the Mavericks No. 21, the only RMAC team to make the Top 25.
Colorado Mesa received 141 points in voting after being among teams receiving votes in the final poll of 2023-24. CSU Pueblo is the only other RMAC team mentioned, receiving 17 points.
In the D2CSC preseason poll, the Mavericks are No. 23, and are No. 3 behind Texas Woman's and Lubbock Christian in the D2CSC preseason South Central Regional rankings.
The Mavericks were picked by the conference coaches to repeat as RMAC champions, receiving seven first-place votes and 187 total points.
KEEP YOUR EYE ON THEM
Three CMU players were listed among the RMAC "Players to Watch" — Olivia Reed Thyne, Mason Rowland and Kylie Kravig. Of the 20 players on the watch list, 16 are returning all-conference picks, including the Player of the Year (Reed Thyne), Defensive Player of the Year (Alisha Little, CSU Pueblo) and Freshman of the Year (Rowland).
Reed Thyne is one of 10 players on Wayne Cavadi's NCAA Division II preseason watch list for national player of the year, along with Alisha Little of CSU Pueblo and Maggie Hutka of Colorado Christian.
ABOUT THE BUFFS
West Texas A&M opened the season Nov. 1-3, hosting the CCA Tipoff Classic in Canyon, Texas.
The Buffs lost 57-55 to Black Hills State on a buzzer beater before defeating Harding 89-81.
Picked to finish fifth in the Lone Star Conference this season, the Buffs brought in five transfers to bolster the roster, including the 2023-24 Lone Star Freshman of the Year, 5-11 forward Taylor Haggan.
Haggan started 28 games for St. Mary's last season, averaging 13.8 points per game. She also had 208 rebounds, 50 assists and blocked 29 shots.
Kyla Kane, a 5-10 junior guard, averaged 16 points in the opening weekend, with Randi Harding, a 5-6 junior guard, scoring 12 per game.
Junior Claire Graham played two seasons at Abilene Christian, primarily as a reserve guard, and junior guard Chloe Callahan returned home after playing Division I basketball at North Texas and Tarleton State. Two more players came in from junior colleges. Haggan and Graham each averaged 9 points in the first two games, with Graham grabbing a dozen rebounds, all on the defensive end.
West Texas A&M went 18-13 last season, including an opening game loss to CMU.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
Texas Permian Basin, the host team for the D2 Conference Challenge, is coming off a 24-8 season.
The Falcons, though, will need to replace more than 35 points a game after their top three scorers graduated.
Morgan Helgesen, a 6-1 graduate student, returns after averaging 8.6 points and 4.8 rebounds a game, and 5-6 guard Nikki Green transferred in from fellow LSC program Midwestern State, where she scored 10.9 points per game. Avalon Munoz, a 5-5 guard, scored 7.2 points a game last season. Makala Bingley, a 5-10 junior guard, started 22 of 31 games for the Falcons, chipping in 7.2 points and 3.6 rebounds.
Picked to finish fourth in the Lone Star Conference this season, the Falcons were second in the West Division of the conference a year ago, reaching the Lone Star tournament for the first time since joining the conference in 2016. They lost in the conference finals and earned a bid to the South Central Regional tournament.
Their 24 wins last season set a program record.
WANNA WATCH?
Both of the D2 Conference Challenge games will be live-streamed on a pay-per-view service, FloSports, which has an agreement with the Lone Star Conference. There will be no radio coverage, but Texas Permian Basin will provide live stats free of charge. A link to the tournament website is posted above.
All RMAC games, and CMU home nonconference games, will stream free on the RMAC Network. The conference will again charge to stream playoff games.
SCHEDULE SHIFT
The RMAC has moved to a 20-game conference schedule this season, freeing up two nonconference dates. Each team will have six home-and-home conference opponents and play the other eight RMAC teams once.
For the Mavericks, the home-and-home opponents are CU-Colorado Springs, Western Colorado, Westminster, Regis, New Mexico Highlands and Black Hills State.
The home conference schedule opens Dec. 5 against CU-Colorado Springs.
Also coming to Brownson Arena are Adams State, MSU Denver, Colorado Christian and South Dakota Mines, the only times those teams will face one another. Mesa travels to Fort Lewis, CSU Pueblo, Chadron State and Colorado School of Mines.
ADJUST YOUR GAME PLANS
The biggest change fans will notice is the RMAC adopting a Thursday-Saturday conference schedule, which aligns with the schedule in the Lone Star Conference. The Friday off day allows for more flexibility with travel, which can be problematic when driving mountain passes in the winter, and an additional recovery day between games.
Thursday's home conference games are slated to tip off at 5:30 p.m., with Saturday's women's games at 1 p.m. The men's games will follow 20 minutes after the conclusion of the women's games.
Wagner is taking a wait-and-see approach on the schedule change.
"I don't know yet. I like grinding it out," Wagner said of the old Friday-Saturday setup. "I felt like that benefitted the tougher teams. I thought we did a pretty good job over the last 12 years preparing for games. It's going to be different for us and for everybody.
"It'll help travel. It'll take a year to really figure out what we want to do, especially the days off. Do you still travel after the game and have a whole day, or do you just relax and get up (and travel) the next morning?"
DYK?
Of the 23 players on CMU's roster, 15 are from Colorado. Two players are from Utah, with one each from Washington, Wyoming, Missouri Arkansas, Idaho and California. Including those who have taken redshirt seasons, the Mavs have six seniors, four juniors, seven sophomores and six freshmen.
