GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — No nights off.
That's the message to all of the RMAC basketball teams leading into the final three weeks of the regular season, including the Colorado Mesa women.
With only six games remaining, the Mavericks are in the thick of the race for the regular-season conference title, in fourth place, but only 1½ games behind Friday night's opponent, Colorado School of Mines, for the lead.
Three of CMU's final six games will be in the friendly confines of Brownson Arena, where the Mavericks are undefeated this season, starting at 5:30 p.m. Friday against the Orediggers, then at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday against MSU Denver. Three road games will follow before the Mavs wrap up the regular season at home against rival Western Colorado on March 2.
The RMAC Tournament begins at home sites March 5, with the top four teams hosting. The highest remaining seed after the quarterfinal round will host the semifinals and championship game March 8-9, with the tournament champion claiming an automatic bid to the Division II South Central Regional tournament.
First, though, the Mavericks need to put together complete games on back-to-back nights the next two weekends. The final week is a Tuesday-Saturday setup.
Colorado Mesa opened conference play at Colorado School of Mines and MSU Denver, splitting the early December road trip.
It took two overtimes to settle the game in Golden, with the Mavericks rallying from a 15-point halftime deficit and took the lead late in regulation, only for the Orediggers to score a second-chance bucket with less than two seconds remaining to force overtime. Shelby Nichols' 3-pointer with 5 seconds left in overtime erased CMU's 3-point lead and sent the game to a second extra session, which Mines secured with a couple of turnovers and free throws.
Mesa bounced back the next afternoon in Denver, racing to an 11-0 lead over the Roadrunners on the way to a 20-point victory. Defense led the way, shutting out MSU Denver for more than six minutes in the first quarter, then nearly five more in the second and third quarter.
ABOUT LAST WEEK
CMU was up to the challenge against defending conference champion Regis, completing the season sweep with a 62-51 victory, its sixth straight win. Claire Heitschmidt scored 17 points, including five 3-pointers, as the Mavs shot 50 percent from the field in the second and fourth quarters.
Coming off a 41 percent shooting night, the Mavericks had their worst shooting game of the season the next evening at CU-Colorado Springs, 23.7 percent, in a 55-51 loss. Heitschmidt scored a season-high 18 points and had 14 rebounds, her first double-double of the season, and was the only CMU player to make a 3-pointer — the Mavericks were 3 of 23 from beyond the arc.
With the split, in less than 24 hours, CMU went from second place in the league, one-half game behind the Orediggers, into fourth place, 1½ back of Mines and a half-game behind Regis and UCCS.
RMAC COACHES POLL
Colorado Mesa was picked to finish 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.
SERIES HISTORY
Colorado Mesa leads the series against Colorado School of Mines 47-17, but has lost the past two meetings. MSU Denver has a 30-23 advantage on CMU, but the Mavs have won the past two games.
At Brownson, CMU is 26-5 against the Orediggers and 16-11 against the Roadrunners.
ABOUT THE MAVS
Offensive execution has been key to the Mavericks' success this season. When CMU shoots a higher percentage than its opponents, it's resulted in a 16-1 record, and the Mavs are 9-1 when they shoot at least 45 percent from the field. Colorado Mesa is shooting 41.7 percent from the field this season, which ranks fourth in the RMAC.
Likewise, when the Mavericks are on point defensively, opponents don't fare well — Mesa is 14-1 when teams shoot under 40 percent. For the season, the Mavericks have held teams to 37.3 percent shooting, which is the second-lowest in the RMAC.
Winners of eight of their past 10 games, the Mavericks' two setbacks came against teams they had beaten earlier this season, Colorado Christian and CU-Colorado Springs.
Olivia Reed continues to average a double-double, 16.6 points and 11.5 rebounds a game, with Mason Rowland, a leading candidate for RMAC freshman of the year, scoring 15.9 points a game. Rowland, who comes off the bench, had back-to-back 20-point games last week, 24 in the win over Regis and 20 in the loss to UCCS. She's scored in double figures in 17 of 23 games and has reached 20 or more seven times, with a career high of 30 points.
That No. 3 scorer has been by committee — junior point guard Kylie Kravig is averaging 7.9 points a game and Laura Gutierrez and Josee Steadman 7.5 each. Sophie Hadad adds 6.8.
Junior forward Claire Heitschmidt put together her two best games of the season, with 17 points and six rebounds against Regis and 18 points and 14 boards against UCCS to boost her scoring average from 4.3 to 5.5 per game.
Mesa's team shooting percentage of 41.7 percent comes from sharing the ball — the Mavericks lead the RMAC with 17.13 assists per game. Kravig has 130 assists this season, an average of 5.7 per game, which leads the conference.
ABOUT THE OREDIGGERS
Colorado School of Mines is ranked in both of the major polls, No. 20 by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association and tied for No. 17 by the D2 College Sports Communicators.
Ashley Steffeck is in the midst of another standout season, averaging 19.4 points and 7.1 rebounds a game. The redshirt senior guard is a threat all over the floor, shooting 33 percent from the field and 41 percent from 3-point range, leading the 'Diggers with 55 made 3-pointers. If you foul her, she's the best in the conference, shooting 90 percent, missing only 16 of 167 attempts.
Jenna Siebert adds 11.5 points, Shelby Nichols 75 and Loralee Stock 7.3 in the balanced attack.
A 12-game winning streak began just before Thanksgiving and ran through the first nine games of the RMAC season until Regis pulled off a 19-point win in January in Golden.
The Orediggers have lost two of their past three games, a one-point loss at Adams State the first weekend of February, then falling 69-61 at home to Black Hills State before rebounding with a 58-53 victory against South Dakota Mines.
ABOUT THE ROADRUNNERS
The young MSU Denver team — no seniors — has steadily improved as the season has progressed. The Roadrunners won three straight, including upsetting Adams State in early February, before losing to Black Hills State last weekend. The win over Adams State snapped a five-game losing streak (and 10 losses in 11 games), including a three-point loss at Colorado School of Mines.
Two players who didn't play in CMU's 20-point win in early December have since started playing and worked their way into the starting lineup, Tosjanae Bonds and Jackie Pippett. Bonds, a 5-foot-5 junior guard, is scoring 7.7 points a game and Pippett, a 6-foot junior forward/center, is chipping in 3.8 points.
Mikylah Espinosa is the Roadrunners' only player to average double figures at 14.6 points a game, with Brianna Sealy averaging 8.6 points and 6.9 rebounds.
Consistent offense has been an issue, with the Roadrunners averaging only 56.8 points per game and giving up 64.4. They're shooting 37.1 percent from the field, 14th in the 15-team conference.
THE COACHES
Taylor Wagner is 262-82 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.
Brittany Simpson, a former standout guard at CMU (Rowley, 2002-06), is in her 12th season as the Orediggers head coach. She's 217-118 as a head coach, all at Mines. As a player at Mesa, she was a two-time all-RMAC guard, earned six conference academic awards and had a career free throw percentage of 89.1, which stood as the best in program history until 2018 (Erin Reichle, 89.8).
Tanya Haave is in her 14th season as MSU Denver's head coach, with a 243-153 record with the Roadrunners and is 279-239 in 18 total seasons as a head coach (four at the University of San Francisco). Haave was an All-American at the University of Tennessee, playing for the legendary Pat Summitt.
DYK?
This nugget courtesy of MSU Denver's game notes — since 2010, Colorado Mesa is the RMAC's winningest program in conference games at 223-77 (.734). CSU Pueblo is second (196-100, .662), MSU Denver third (193-102, .654), Black Hill State fourth (160-95, .627) and Colorado School of Mines fifth (185-113, .621).
