GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Saturday nights are grind-it-out nights in the RMAC.
In a conference that plays on back-to-back nights, the basketball teams that can gut out wins on the second night are the ones in contention for a conference title at the end of the season.
That was the case Saturday (Feb. 17) for the Colorado Mesa women, who found a way to beat MSU Denver 53-45, once again relying on defense, to remain undefeated at home (12-0) and move into a three-way tie for second place in the RMAC, one-half game behind Regis and CU-Colorado Springs. Adams State and Colorado School of Mines, both idle Saturday, are tied with the Mavericks at 14-4, with the Rangers and Mountain Lions 15-4, entering the final two weeks of the regular season.
"Saturday hasn't been kind to us, especially on the road, this year and that's where we've just got to grow and be more mature as a team and really grind it out," CMU coach Taylor Wagner said. "Those Saturday games are tough, but everyone has to do it, so if you're great at it, you'll probably win something (like a conference title). That's the big thing; we've just got to learn to be able to do a little bit better."
The Mavericks, 20-5 overall, allowed MSU Denver to shoot just 28.6 percent from the field and 22.2 percent from the 3-point line, making 4 of 18. They shot only 33.3 percent themselves and also made only four 3-pointers, but their 44-30 advantage on the glass limited the Roadrunners (7-16, 6-12 RMAC) to one shot. MSU Denver had only seven offensive rebounds to CMU's 13, which the Mavs converted to 11 points.
Olivia Reed led CMU with 21 points and nine rebounds and Claire Heitschmidt was tough on the boards with 11, all on the defensive end.
"We knew they were gonna pressure (the ball) so once Coach told me, I was like, 'OK, I gotta be strong with the ball,' and remember to just pivot out of it and be strong," Heitschmidt said of helping to control the boards despite the Roadrunners trying to slap the ball away or force a jump ball.
Mason Rowland dropped in 14 points and eight rebounds, with one crucial steal and pull-up jumper in the opening minute of the second half to put the Mavs up six, capping an 11-5 scoring flurry that broke an 8-8 tie at the 4:14 mark of the first quarter.
A pair of free throws by Kylie Kravig gave CMU a nine-point cushion at halftime, 29-20, but MSU Denver rallied in the third quarter, outscoring the Mavericks 17-14. Midway through the quarter, the Roadrunners were within two points after a 3-pointer by Brooklynn Jones, but Kravig drove for a layup and Heitschmidt hit a jumper in the lane, followed by a second-chance layup by Rowland.
Although the Mavericks didn't trail after the 8-8 tie, they couldn't put the game out of reach until the final minutes, mainly because of the effort of Mikylah Espinosa, who poured in 20 points for the Roadrunners, hitting three of their four 3-pointers. Still, the Mavs made her take 21 tough shots to get her points.
"We knew Espinosa was a great player, she's had a couple of 30-point nights," Wagner said. "They're playing really well right now, probably the best they have al year long so we wanted to make them take tough shots, whether it was Espinosa or anyone else. The main thing was not to give them easy looks."
Colorado Mesa trailed for a total of 39 seconds in the weekend sweep, 10 seconds against Colorado School of Mines on Friday and 29 seconds Saturday, and in the two games, allowed the their opponents to shoot a combined 27.2 percent from the field and yielded only six 3-pointers in 35 attempts.
The Mavs, who entered the weekend with a rebound margin of 7.7, outrebounded their opponents 87-57 and upped their margin to 8.3 per game.
Laura Gutierrez finished with seven points and five rebounds, and is only six points away from scoring 1,000 in her career, which includes her totals from her first three seasons at Adams State. Gutierrez has scored 434 points the past two seasons at CMU.
The Mavericks have a challenging stretch to end the season, with a road trip to Las Vegas, N.M., to play New Mexico Highlands on Feb. 23, then come back to Colorado to play at CSU Pueblo on Feb. 24. Three nights later they play their final road game of the regular season, traveling to Salt Lake City, Utah, to face Westminster on Feb. 27, then close out at home on March 2 against Western Colorado.
"We've just got to lock in," Reed said. "If we take care of us, then everything will fall into place. We've got to focus on us and adjust and grow, and that's the best time to do it."
