GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — It could be a big moving weekend for the Colorado Mesa women's basketball team when the third-place Mavericks play at second-place Regis and fourth-place CU-Colorado Springs on back-to-back nights. Tipoff at Regis on Friday and at UCCS on Saturday is at 5 p.m.
Colorado Mesa (17-4, 11-3 RMAC) has won five straight games, the longest current streak in the conference, and with only four weeks remaining in the regular season, there's little room to have an off night — or even an lackluster quarter — the rest of the way.
The top four teams at the end of the regular season host first-round games in the RMAC Tournament, with the highest remaining seed hosting the semifinals and championship games. There are five teams within four games of one another — Colorado School of Mines is 13-2 in RMAC play, Regis is 12-3, CMU 11-3, CU-Colorado Springs 11-4 and Adams State 10-4.
CMU coach Taylor Wagner has continued to expand bench roles as more of the young Mavericks are progressing in practice. Cayden King, a 5-10 freshman from Craig who was the Western Slope League player of the year at Moffat County last season, came off the bench early last week, giving the Mavericks another big wing who can guard another forward and is quick enough to defend a smaller player. Mykaela Moore, a sophomore transfer from Colorado Christian, is consistently in the guard rotation, and junior forward Lauryn Deede played significant minutes against Western Colorado, grabbing five rebounds.
LAST TIME OUT
Their shortest road trip of the season turned out to be a challenge, with the Mavericks outlasting upset-minded Western Colorado 76-70 in double overtime. Junior point guard Kylie Kravig hit a tying 3-pointer at the buzzer of the first overtime to keep the Mavericks alive, then she and Mason Rowland combined to make six free throws in the final 1:38 of the second extra session to pull away.
After returning to Grand Junction, the Mavs, who shot only 32.5 percent from the field against the Mountaineers and made only three 3-pointers, lit up the scoreboard in an 81-38 rout of Westminster. Colorado Mesa made 11 shots from 3-point range and shot nearly 50 percent from the field in the 43-point victory, the largest margin of victory in the series.
DOUBLE AWARDS
Olivia Reed had a record-setting week, scoring 56 points and securing 35 rebounds in the two wins, including a career-high 24 boards against Western Colorado. She also scored 30 points against the Mountaineers, tying her season and career high. The 6-foot sophomore forward also blocked five total shots and had a career-high six assists against the Griffins.
Her work earned her a third RMAC Defensive Player of the Week award on Monday, and on Tuesday, Reed was voted the Division II Conference Information Directors Association National Player of the Week for the second time this season. She's the first repeat winner of the award in the 2023-24 season.
RMAC award
D2CIDA award
MILESTONE AHEAD
Senior guard Laura Gutierrez is closing in on 1,000 career points, needing 30 more to reach the milestone. She's scored 410 points in her two seasons at CMU after scoring 560 in three seasons at Adams State. Gutierrez is averaging 8.1 points a game this season, but has reached double figures eight times this season, and scored 13 against UCCS in the teams' first meeting.
FIRST TIME AROUND
Last week marked what normally would be the end of the first half of a home-and-home conference slate. Because of the 22-game RMAC schedule, each team in the 15-team conference doesn't play every other team twice. CMU, for example, does not have return games against Fort Lewis, Chadron State, South Dakota Mines, Black Hills State and Colorado Christian this year.
This week does begin the second go-around of the eight teams the Mavs play twice, with five of those games away from Brownson Arena.
The second weekend of December, CMU claimed a 58-53 win over UCCS at Brownson Arena, then handed Regis an 87-82 defeat. Josee Steadman scored 13 of her 16 points in the first half against the Mountain Lions, and the Mavs used a 20-9 second quarter to build a nine-point halftime lead and held on down the stretch.
Against the Rangers, CMU scored 20 or more points in every quarter, which allowed the Mavericks to stave off a furious rally in the fourth quarter by Regis, which outscored CMU 37-20 in the final 10 minutes. By shooting 65.5 percent in the first half, CMU built a 44-29 halftime lead, which grew to as many as 26 points.
Four players reached double figures in the game, with Steadman scoring 19, Sophie Hadad and Mason Rowland 16 each and Reed 12.
SERIES HISTORY
Regis has a slight edge on CMU in the series, 24-21, but the Mavs are 42-12 against the Mountain Lions. Mesa has won only seven of 21 games at the Regis Fieldhouse but is 16-9 in Colorado Springs.
NUMBERS GAME
Colorado Mesa's 42.6 shooting percentage is predicated on executing its half-court sets, and that means sharing the basketball. The Mavericks lead the RMAC and are ninth in the nation in assists, averaging 17.6 per game. The fewest assists the Mavs have had in a game this season is 12, and they had season-high 25 (on 32 made baskets) against Westminster last week.
Kylie Kravig is the main dime-dropper, averaging an RMAC-best 5.8 per game, which is tied for sixth in Division II, and her total of 121 leads the RMAC and is tied for seventh nationally. Everyone is getting in on the assists, however, with forward Olivia Reed 11th in the RMAC at 2.6 per game (55 total) and wing Sophie Hadad is 15th in the conference at 2.3 (48).
The Mavericks are fifth in the nation with a 1.30 assist-to-turnover ratio (270/284).
Reed, who is fifth in the conference in scoring (17.6), is second in field goal percentage (58.4), just behind Maison White of UCCS (59.4). Mason Rowland is third in the RMAC in free-throw percentage, hitting 99 of 113 (87.6), and the freshman guard is ninth in scoring at 15.3 points per game. Josee Steadman is seventh in 3-pointers made, averaging 1.9 per game.
SCOUTING THE RANGERS
Regis opened the conference season 2-2 after a home loss to Black Hills State and the loss at Brownson Arena to the Mavericks, but then won nine straight games, including knocking off league leader Colorado School of Mines by 19 points in Golden. The Rangers split last weekend's road games, falling 83-70 at CSU Pueblo before routing New Mexico Highlands 79-55.
The Rangers' balance makes them tough to guard, with four of their top five scorers able to put the ball on the floor and attack the rim, or shoot from beyond the arc.
Josey Ryan is having a stellar final season, averaging 15.3 points a game in the balanced offensive attack. The 5-9 guard is shooting 33.6 percent from the 3-point line and 44.1 percent overall — more than one-third of her field goals made are from the 3-point line. Junior guard Athena Saragoza scores 14.9 points a game and last season's RMAC Offensive Player of the Year, point guard Erin Fry, is third on the team in scoring at 12.2 points. She has 118 assists, second only to the Mavs' Kylie Kravig (121) and has committed 52 turnovers, an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.3, just ahead of Kravig's 2.1.
Sam Deem and Madison Diercks are tough on the boards, averaging 7 rebounds a game each, and Ryan grabs 5 a game.
Regis is tough to beat in its fieldhouse, owning a 7-1 home mark this season.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAIN LIONS
Two of the top rebounders in the RMAC will once again battle it out in the paint when the Mavs' Olivia Reed (11.5) goes up against the Mountain Lions' Maison White (9.1). Reed leads the conference in rebounding, with White third behind CSU Pueblo's Alisha Little.
White, a 6-foot junior, also leads UCCS in scoring at 13.7 points a game, with Amyah Moore Allen adding 11.1.Krystina Hagood and Rylie Ottmann are just below double figures, but the Mountain Lions hang their hat on defense. They're third in the conference in scoring defense, allowing 60.4 points a game, and allow teams to shoot only 37.5 percent, which is the best field goal defense in the league, just above CMU's 37.8 percent.
The Mountain Lions are also efficient on offense, shooting 44.3 percent, best in the league.
UCCS is on a three-game winning streak since a nine-point loss to the Orediggers and has a signature win over Adams State. They're 9-2 in the Gallogly Events Center this season.
THE COACHES
Taylor Wagner is 261-81 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. Entering this weekend's games, Wagner is 195-57 in conference games.
Molly Marrin is in her ninth season as the head coach at her alma mater, and guided Regis to the RMAC regular-season and conference tournament championships last season. She's 147-99 as a head coach, all at Regis.
Misty Wilson took over as the Mountain Lions' coach this season and is 14-7, but has a 160-121 record in her 10 years of being a head coach. Wilson previously coached at Tarleton State, where she played from 1998-2001.
DYK?
Joslyn Spires, a freshman guard from Glenwood Springs, scored the first points of her college career against Westminster. She scored eight points, including making two of four 3-pointers, in five minutes of playing time. Redshirt freshman guard Serena Ileleji also made her scoring debut against the Griffins with a bucket. Ileleji, who missed all of last season with an injury, has played in three games, all since the holiday break.
