GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Taylor Wagner saw something different about his Colorado Mesa women's basketball team this past fall.
"There was just a different feel with this team," Wagner said Saturday night after the Mavericks (24-5, 18-4 RMAC) downed Western Colorado 70-57 to claim a share of the RMAC championship, the program's 11th regular-season title, more than any other team in the conference, and clinch the No. 1 seed in the upcoming RMAC Tournament.
"Last year was obviously a tough year, we had girls who hadn't played that much and then we had the eight injuries, season-ending injuries, that played a big factor in it. But this year they were locked in. It's pretty much the same team and the girls just came in and I really liked the feel of how they set the tone early on. You could see the leadership; there was a different desire, they knew what it was going to take."
It took winning their final six games of the regular season to climb to the top of the conference, including winning the final game after all the other games wrapped up. The three teams tied with CMU — Regis, CU-Colorado Springs and Adams State — all won, leaving it all in the Mavs' hands.
Behind Olivia Reed's 11th double-double of the season, 30 points and 16 rebounds, and Laura Gutierrez scoring 15 points and grabbing six rebounds on her Senior Night, the Mavericks led from the start, dominated the glass and turned back every attempt Western (7-20, 5-17 RMAC) made to climb back in the game.
Not only will the Mavericks host CSU Pueblo at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the conference tournament quarterfinals, they'll host the semifinals and championship games, provided they beat the ThunderWolves for the third time this season.
"Being home is huge," Reed said. "I think our community is great, we get a great crowd (a full house of 1,772 Saturday) and we feed off each other here. We've really bought in this year to protecting our home court and that was something last year we didn't do quite as well."
For Gutierrez, who had a large family contingent make the trip from Rio Rancho, N.M., for the game, a conference title and few more games at Brownson Arena, where the Mavericks are 13-0 this season, means the world.
"To play at home … I mean, it's everything," said Gutierrez, who hit a clutch 3-pointer with 4:33 to play to put CMU up 65-51, all but putting the game out of reach. "I think we're going into it with the mentality that we can't take any game for granted, we can't take any practice for granted, even film sessions. We've got to study and keep focused on what the bigger goal is."
Colorado Mesa went inside early to Reed, and the 6-foot sophomore delivered. She scored 20 points in the first half, with seven rebounds and a career-high five blocked shots, then added 10 more points and nine more boards in the second.
"Early on we were able to get it inside and I was able to get some clean looks and finish," Reed said, "so we just kind of kept going back to what was working."
Gutierrez tried to keep her emotions in check all day, which was hard when she saw so many family members in the stands.
"The biggest thing that was running through my head was to get a win," she said. "I mean, that's all I want for this team, and I had a few family come from a long way, so that was really amazing."
Colorado Mesa shot 40.3 percent from the field and hit a half-dozen 3-pointers, two each by Gutierrez and Claire Heitschmidt, and held the Mountaineers to 37.9 percent shooting. Ivey Schmidt poured in 25 points to lead Western Colorado, with Rachel Cockman adding 10. Mason Rowland scored 13 points, all in the second half, to help CMU salt away the title.
This is a tough league and it's tough to play and win every night," Wagner said. "I felt like the girls stepped up each and every week. We got better as the season went on, our defense really stepped up and that was the key in everything."
