GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Colorado Mesa's ability to adapt to how teams defend is the secret to its success.
Thursday, the Mavericks' women's basketball team went inside-outside with Olivia Reed Thyne and Riley Hayes scoring more than 30 points each to beat New Mexico Highlands. Saturday, the Mavs took full advantage of their height, with forwards Reed Thyne and Brooklyn Palmer both recording double-doubles in a 72-49 victory over Adams State at Brownson Arena.
With Reed Thyne scoring 24 points and grabbing 15 rebounds and Palmer adding 11 points and 10 boards, the Mavs (9-4, 4-2 RMAC) controlled the paint, with 45 rebounds to the Grizzlies' 23.
"I think rebounding is one of those things that you can control," Palmer said. "Whether there's calls going your way, there's shots going in or not, I think rebounding is something that we can control every game. And I know Coach has been really good about pushing us all to increase our rebounding through all positions and so it's been good, I think, doing it in practice to see it in games."
Reed Thyne, whose double-double was her ninth of the season and sixth in the past seven games, was able to pin her defender time and time again for layups, with 16 first-half points. Palmer, a 6-foot-2 senior transfer who played against the Mavericks last year for Texas-Tyler, stepped out and hit two of the Mavs' four 3-pointers as part of her first double-double at CMU. She also had a pair of assists, with she and Reed Thyne finding one another after the defense collapsed around whichever had the ball.
"Adams, for the most part, they play smaller players, and they usually play well," Reed Thyne said "Their big (Taejhuan Hill) is really good, but they either have four guards and one big or five guards in, so we just knew coming in that capitalizing on the boards was going to be key for us, and keeping their post off the boards was also big for us."
With Adams State (8-7, 3-3) pressing and trapping, the Mavericks had stretches of issues with turnovers, giving it away 21 times, matching their number of assists. CMU has the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the conference.
With a 37-23 halftime lead, Wagner found the lineup he wanted in the second half, making only one substitution until the final minute. He sent Makayla Moore in for Macy Larsen at the 5:38 mark of the third quarter and stayed with her and the other four starters the rest of the way until he cleared the bench. Keeping more experienced players on the floor allowed the Mavericks to handle the Grizzlies' ball pressure and put the game away.
CMU set the tone early, using a 10-0 run as part of a 15-2 spree to go up 17-8, and despite hitting only one of 10 from the 3-point line in the first half, the defense didn't allow Adams State to cut into the lead.
The Grizzlies, who have not won at Brownson Arena since 2011, made only two 3-pointers in the game, and put no players in double figures.
Hayes, who tied CMU's program record with nine 3-pointers on Thursday, finally connected on one from deep after Reed snared an offensive rebound and got the ball to Moore. She, in turn, spied Hayes in the corner for a second-chance trey and a 52-33 lead with two minutes left in the third quarter.
She finished with 11 points, moving to mid-range for her points instead of the 3.
Kylie Kravig was just off a double-double, with seven points and 10 assists, her sixth game this season with double-digit assists. Reed added four assists and blocked one shot, Moore chipped in eight points and Larsen six.
Saturday's game also saw the debut of freshman Jenna Krise, who scored her first collegiate points on a pair of free throws in the second half.
It was the posts, though, who gave the Mavericks their first sweep of an RMAC weekend this season. They quickly developed chemistry when Palmer transferred in and have gotten more and more comfortable on the floor together as the season has progressed.
"I think Brooklyn and I just clicked right off the bat, honestly," Reed Thyne said. "I love playing with Brooklyn, and I think she's a really smart player, and she's really consistent for us. And, yeah, I'm thankful that she's on our team."
They laughed that playing on the same team beats facing one another as they did in last year's South Central Regional, with Tyler knocking off the Mavericks in the regional semifinals.
"I love playing with Olivia. I think she works so hard down low, and so I love being able to get the pass in there, because I know she's gonna finish or get a rebound, so I think rewarding her for her hard work down there, it's really fun to work off her," Palmer said. "Like I said, she knows when to take it up and when to score, and she also knows when to kick it off. So it's really fun to be able to play with someone who can kind of do it all."
The Mavericks, who moved into fourth place in the RMAC have a quick turnaround, playing at Western Colorado on Tuesday night and then hosting Westminster on Saturday afternoon. The Mountaineers (10-3, 5-1) are one game ahead of CMU in the standings.
