GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — As Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play opens this week, four women's basketball teams can claim the start of their RMAC title defense.
Colorado Mesa and CU-Colorado Springs, who meet Thursday at Brownson Arena, are two of those teams — Adams State and Regis also shared the regular-season title last season.
The Mavericks, 4-1, are coming off a two-week break, with the Mountain Lions, 2-3, just back from a Thanksgiving tournament in Hawaii. Saturday afternoon, Colorado Christian, 1-5, comes to town after playing at Western Colorado in the opener.
In their prolonged early season break, the Mavericks got plenty of work in, focusing on skill development and letting some nagging injuries heal.
With an injury to sophomore guard Mason Rowland altering the rotation, the Mavericks had time to adjust to roles, especially senior guard Riley Hayes, who moved into the starting lineup. The RMAC's top 3-point shooter in terms of percentage (.400) and 3-pointers per game (4.0), Hayes knows teams will try to run her off the 3-point line, and she's shown the ability to put the ball on the floor and attack the basket or find an open shooter in the half-court sets. CMU's average of 74 points per game leads the conference.
"The big thing is, I want everyone to do their role better," head coach Taylor Wagner said. "That involves everyone on the team; that's the big thing. It's not just one or two players offensively, everyone needs to step up. There's going to be foul trouble, there could be injuries or there could be sickness or whatever it is, so everyone's got to be on their A game.
"That's the thing I'm looking for from everybody. You know, Sophie (Hadad) is a great shooter, she's got to be looking for her shot. You know people are going to key on Riley, and she talked about being able to get her teammates involved. Everybody's got to do that, so if we can really focus on that and the girls believe in themselves each and every day, then I think we'll have success."
Defensively, the Mavericks allow only 56.2 points per game, second in the conference, and have a plus-8 rebound margin. The defense isn't quite there yet, but, Wagner said, it's "headed in the right direction. We want to be playing March defense right now, and it takes a little bit of time."
NEW SCHEDULE
This is the first week of the new RMAC schedule format, playing on Thursdays and Saturdays instead of the Friday-Saturday back-to-back. Thursday games at Brownson will tip off at 5:30 p.m., with Saturday games at 1 p.m. The men's game will follow at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays, 3 p.m. on Saturdays.
Playing in the Lone Star Conference when she was at Arkansas-Fort Smith, Riley Hayes got used to that setup.
"It's nice because you get another day to focus on the team you're going to play Saturday. So you have that day in between for scout, and then, I guess, to rest up, or any injuries from Thursday you have, you can treat on Friday," she said.
Wagner isn't sure how the Mavericks — and their fans — will respond.
"I kind of like the grind the old way, and especially at home, that helps having parents be able to come and watch two games. Our fans, they're just used to that, and we draw a really good crowd," he said. "So I think that's one negative, but the positive is, like (the players) said, we'll have a day to prepare for the next team and and then get any treatment on any injuries. I'm anxious to see how that Friday practice will go. It probably depends on how Thursday goes."
NUMBERS GAME
Olivia Reed Thyne is among the RMAC leaders in several offensive categories, ranking first in free throw percentage (.889) and defensive rebounds (8.2), second in scoring (19.8), rebounding (11.4) and field goal percentage (.586), and third in offensive rebounds (3.2). Nationally, she's 18th in scoring and seventh in rebounding.
Reed is one of three RMAC players with a 30-point game this season (32 vs. West Texas A&M).
Kylie Kravig continues to lead the conference in assists (7.6) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.38, with 38 assists and only 16 turnovers, playing nearly 36 minutes per game). She's tied for 17th nationally in assists and 32nd in assist-to-turnover ratio.
Hayes' four 3-pointers per game is tied for second in all of Division II.
The Mavericks lead the RMAC in scoring (74.0), scoring margin (+14.4), rebound margin (+8), field goal percentage (.440), free throw percentage (.839), assists (16.6), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.28) and are second in team defense (59.6).
IN THE POLLS
Colorado Mesa is receiving votes this week in both national polls, released by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association and the D2 College Sports Communicators.
The Mavs received 27 votes in the coaches poll and eight in the D2CSC poll. They're the only RMAC team mentioned in either poll.
In the D2CSC South Central Regional poll, the Mavericks are No. 4 behind Lubbock Christian (8-0), Texas Tyler (5-0) and Texas Woman's (7-1). Three other RMAC teams are ranked in the region, No. 8 Black Hills State (4-3), No. 9 Western Colorado (4-2) and Adams State (5-4), which is tied for the No. 10 spot. CSU Pueblo is receiving votes. The D2CSC regional rankings do not have a bearing on the end-of-season NCAA Division II regional bids.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAIN LIONS
CU-Colorado Springs (2-3) is coming off a one-point thriller in a 54-53 victory over Central Missouri in Honolulu on Saturday, then had the long flight back to the mainland and a bus ride over the Rocky Mountains to start conference play.
That win ended a three-game losing streak for UCCS. The Mountain Lions opened the season with a 10-point win over Midwestern State, but fell on the road at West Texas A&M and Lubbock Christian and lost their opener in the Hoops in Hawaii Classic to Minnesota State Moorhead.
Returning first-team All-RMAC performers Amyah Moore Allen and Maison White provide a 1-2 scoring punch at 15.0 and 13.8 points per game, respectively. After that, UCCS does it by committee, with nine players scoring between 2-4 points a game.
White, a 6-foot senior forward, is a tough matchup, grabbing a dozen rebounds a game and shooting 62 percent from the field.
The Mountain Lions average only 56.2 points per game, are 14th in the conference in field goal percentage at 33.8 percent, and are middle of the pack on defense, allowing 64.6 points.
SCOUTING THE COUGARS
Colorado Christian (1-5) has traveled far and wide the first three weeks of the season, playing in Tyler, Texas, Pueblo and Seattle, and open conference play Thursday in Gunnison before traveling to Grand Junction for Saturday afternoon's game.
Forward Maggie Hutka, the Cougars' leading scorer last season and who averaged 15.5 points and 9.8 rebounds in the first four games this season, is no longer on the roster. Hutka, a 6-foot-1 junior, averaged 20.2 points and 7.7 rebounds last season.
Without Hutka, the Cougars look to Victoria Perez (10.2 ppg) and Maggie Phipps (10.0 ppg) to lead the offense, with Nicole Bowlin and Dasiya Jones adding 8 points a game.
Colorado Christian has scored more than 60 points only once this season, in its 79-70 victory over Missouri Western. In their five losses, the Cougars have averaged only 53.6 points.
THE COACHES
Taylor Wagner is in his 13th season in charge of the CMU women's program, with a 273-85 record (.762). In RMAC play, he has a 202-58 mark (.777).
He's the second-longest tenured coach in program history and is also second in wins, behind Steve Kirkham, who won 299 games in 16 seasons (1988-2004). Wagner took the Mavericks to the Division II Elite Eight in his first season, has won or shared in six conference regular-season championships, two RMAC Tournament titles, earned seven regional tournament bids and six RMAC Coach of the Year awards, including 2023-24.
Misty Wilson is in her second year as the UCCS head coach. She guided the Mountain Lions to a share of the RMAC regular-season title last season, with 13 more wins than the year before, and getting UCCS to the South Central Regional playoffs for the first time in eight years.
Prior to being hired in Colorado Springs, Wilson was the head coach at Tarleton State for nine seasons, including during the school's transition from Division II to Division I status. She played at Tarleton State, scoring 1,440 points. She's a member of the Tarleton State Hall of Fame.
Carissa Ratliff was named the interim coach at Colorado Christian in October, replacing Diane Thompson. Ratliff had been an assistant coach from 2019-2021 and has been a part of the athletic department staff the past five years, including two years as an assistant track coach.
Ratliff was a two-time Division III All-America basketball player and a two-time national qualifier in track and field at Calvin (Michigan), and is the school's scoring leader with 2,236 points.
In Ratliff's two seasons as an assistant basketball coach, Colorado Christian went 15-31.
DYK?
Thursday's game will feature teams that made big jumps in success from the 2022-23 season to 2023-24 and ended up sharing the RMAC championship. CU-Colorado Springs went from 10-18 in the 2022-23 season to 23-8 last season, the third-largest jump in Division II.
The Mavericks went from 13-16 to 25-7 in that same span, the sixth-largest improvement in the nation.
