DENTON, Texas — Colorado Mesa's season came to an end Saturday in the semifinals of the women's South Central Region tournament, but the Mavericks set a course for the future.
After a 68-56 loss to the University of Texas-Tyler, CMU coach Taylor Wagner acknowledged the outstanding season by the co-RMAC champions as well as what lies ahead.
"I don't feel like this game defines what we did all year long," Wagner said. "We were just talking in the locker room, we've got great kids, that's the best thing about this team, they're just awesome to be around. Their parents did a wonderful job raising them and we're lucky enough to have them and that's the best thing about this team. We lose Laura (Gutierrez), we lose one girl and we get everyone back, so we're excited.
"Last year was a difficult year, the year before we had five COVID seniors, so there wasn't a lot of experience and then we had eight season-ending injuries and we started off slow. We ended really well and they came in this year with a different attitude, so I'm excited to see where the team will go from here."
The Mavericks, 25-7, had a 10-point lead early in the second quarter, but couldn't sustain it against UT-Tyler's second-half defense. Olivia Reed had six points in the first quarter and added a mid-range jumper early in the second. She went to the bench midway through the quarter in a 23-23 game and the Mavs were down four when she returned with just more than one minute left, but the Patriots never let her get good looks in the low post in the second half.
Instead, Reed worked to get the ball back out to perimeter shooters, but UT-Tyler challenged shooters, and the Mavs made only two of 13 attempts from the 3-point line in the second half and was 5 of 25 for the game.
The Patriots, 27-8, outscored CMU 18-9 in the second quarter to go up 29-25 at the half, which ended with a prolonged video review.
Laura Gutierrez snared a defensive rebound with one second remaining and launched a three-quarter court desperation shot, and was knocked down by Enisa Kamerolli. The officials looked at the video, then discussed the play for several minutes, then sent Gutierrez to the free-throw line with no time on the clock.
As she waited to shoot the free throws, the officials met again, called the coaches together again, and decided the foul came after time expired in the half, so the free throws would be shot before the start of the second half, and sent the teams to the locker room.
Gutierrez made one of two free throws to open the second half, and behind Mason Rowland, the Mavericks made it a one-point game, 33-32, with 3:05 remaining in the third quarter. Rowland scored six of her 16 points in the third quarter, but it was a five-point UTT lead at the end of the third.
A couple of minutes into the fourth quarter, the Patriots had pushed the lead to nine and the Mavericks couldn't get into any kind of rhythm the rest of the way.
Mesa turned the ball over 18 times, 10 in the second half when Tyler picked up the full-court pressure.
The Patriots cashed in for 19 points off turnovers. Combined with an off shooting night — 29.8 percent (17 of 57) — and some defensive breakdowns leading to Tyler shooting 45.5 percent, the Mavs couldn't scrap their way back into the game.
"We turned the ball over quite a bit," Wagner said. "I felt that was a big shift. They pressed a little bit, went into the zone and we turned it over one or two times on those first couple of (possessions after building the 11-point lead), didn't adjust to it. Then the shots didn't go in. We turned the ball over and they were scoring and we just never got back in rhythm after that point."
Gutierrez, in the final game of her career, scored 15 points. Rowland led CMU with 16 points and eight rebounds, Reed had 13 points and nine rebounds, and Kylie Kravig added seven points and six assists.
Kravig finished with season with 180 assists, passing Mariah Martin's single-season record of 176, and now has 363 career assists to move into second all-time, only seven behind Jill Teeters' record of 370.
Reed scored 537 points in her stellar sophomore season, 11th-best in a single season, and now stands at 898 in her career, tied for 25th all-time. Her 353 rebounds rank third in a single season, and she's eighth in career rebounding with 628.
Gutierrez quickly fit in with her new teammates after transferring from Adams State last season and provided the perimeter scoring the Mavs needed.
"I think what hurts most is having to leave this team," she said. "Like Coach said, it is a great group of girls. You don't have teams often that have no drama in the locker room, that have each other's back no matter what. This is the one team I can say I'll never stop being friends with everyone, for the rest of my life. That's probably the toughest thing about losing."
For Reed and the rest of the Mavericks, after spring break and some time to recuperate from the long season, it'll be back to conditioning and preparing for next season. The Mavs' returning RMAC Player of the Year said the experience gained in the regional will serve them well.
"It was our first opportunity in the tournament and being a higher seed in the RMAC Tournament, just that experience in general with knowing and understanding what it takes to play this far in the season, it's different than the regular season," she said. "I think that helps. Right now we've just got to focus on the next best action, which for everyone returning is getting in the gym and working on what we want to do next year. Our goals aren't changing."
