GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Fresh off their first two-game sweep of the conference season, the Colorado Mesa women's basketball team takes its shortest trip of the season, playing at Western Colorado on Tuesday in Gunnison.
The 5:30 p.m. tipoff at Paul Wright Gym will be followed by the men's game at 7:30, and then both CMU teams are off until Saturday afternoon, when they host Westminster at Brownson Arena. The women's game is at 1 p.m., followed by the men at 3 p.m.
All of CMU's games are streamed free of charge on the RMAC Network, with KTMM (1340-AM, 101.1-FM) broadcasting on radio. Tickets to Saturday's games are on sale at https://tickets.coloradomesa.edu/ or at the door on game day.
Colorado Mesa (7-4, 4-2 RMAC) has won four of its past five games, losing only to then-No. 8 Pittsburg State in the final game of the Nova Southeastern Holiday Invitational before Christmas.
Defensively, the Mavericks have steadily improved, with teams shooting well below 40% in those four CMU victories, including a season-low 28.6% by Colorado School of Mines. Both opponents last week shot below 39% and were outrebounded by an average of 24.5 per game. The Mavericks dominated the glass especially on the defensive end, allowing only seven total offensive rebounds, four to New Mexico Highlands and three to Adams State.
Fueled by the defensive effort, had two of their best shooting games of the season, shooting 49.2% against the Cowgirls and a season-high 54.9% against Adams State.
Tuesday's game pits teams that are one game apart in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings — Western Colorado is 5-1 and Colorado Mesa 4-2 — and both are ranked in the top 10 of the South Central Region by the Division II Conference Sports Communicators. The Mountaineers are ranked seventh and the Mavericks 10th in the weekly poll.
ABOUT LAST WEEK
The Mavericks had several big-time performances in their victories over New Mexico Highlands and Adams State.
On Thursday, Riley Hayes and Olivia Reed Thyne made history by each scoring more than 30 points in a single game, a first in program history. Hayes scored a career-high 33 points, hitting a career-high nine 3-pointers, which tied Jaylyn Duran's program record. Reed Thyne finished with 31 points in an 86-54 runaway victory over Highlands.
Saturday, the post players took control, with Reed Thyne recording her ninth double-double of the season with 24 points and 15 rebounds and Brooklyn Palmer getting her first double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. With Hayes adding another 11 points, the Mavericks cruised to a 72-49 win over Adams State, one of the four teams that tied for the RMAC regular-season title last season (CMU, Regis, CU-Colorado Springs).
In the two games, CMU shot 51.7% from the field, held its opponents to 35.3% and had a rebound margin of +24.5.
THE RIVALRY
The last time these Western Slope rivals played in Gunnison, it took an extra 10 minutes to declare a winner, with the Mavericks prevailing 76-70 in double overtime on Jan. 30, 2024.
Kylie Kravig hit a 3-pointer just before the horn in the first overtime after chasing down an offensive rebound and Olivia Reed Thyne scored the first four points of the second OT to give the Mavericks a little breathing room.
Reed scored 30 points and had a career-high 24 rebounds in that game and Kravig added 15 points. Mason Rowland, who will miss this game and the remainder of the season with an injury, had 16 points, including the final four free throws to ice the game.
Western Colorado was without Rachel Cockman for all but the opening minute of that game after she was injured. Ivey Schmidt and Brooklyn Seymour scored 18 and 17 points, respectively, with Natalie Jojola and Alyssa Eckroth adding 14 and 10. All four return for the Mountaineers, along with Cockman, this season.
The teams started their series in 1989, with CMU holding a 58-14 advantage. The Mavericks have won the past three, but it's never easy; Colorado Mesa is 26-10 at Paul Wright Gym and 32-4 at Brownson Arena against the Mountaineers.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
Talk about a veteran team — that's Western Colorado, which returns its top seven scorers and top three rebounders from last year's team. All that experience has led to the Mountaineers to a 10-3 start after winning only seven games all of last season.
Picked to finish 10th by the coaches in the preseason RMAC poll, Western is currently in third place with a 5-1 conference record, one game behind CSU Pueblo and Black Hills State and one game ahead of the Mavericks (9-4, 4-2 RMAC).
Rachel Cockman averages 12.8 points and Ivey Schmidt 11.2, with four other players adding between 6-8 points a game. Senior transfer Jayde Tschritter has made 27 of her 3-point attempts and shoots nearly 32% from beyond the arc, with returner Jayda Maves also a perimeter threat with 20 treys, shooting 35.7%.
Western will pound the boards, averaging 40 rebounds a game, 11.4 more than its opponents, and is efficient on offense, shooting 41.6% as a team.
CSU Pueblo handed Western its only conference loss to date, with the Mountaineers riding a five-game winning streak entering Tuesday's game.
SCOUTING THE GRIFFINS
Westminster, which plays host to Western Colorado on Thursday, is off to a slow start at 3-10, 2-4 in the RMAC. The Griffins held off Adams State 83-78 in overtime last week before losing 78-55 to Fort Lewis.
Teuila Nawahine is leading the Griffins at 12 points a game, with Abby Conlee adding 10 and Maunayia Harrigfeld 8.1 points and 10.8 rebounds, but Westminster averages only 56.3 points per game and is being outscored by 11.2 a night. Turnovers have also been an issue, with 18 per game leading to nearly 19 points for opponents.
THE COACHES
Taylor Wagner is in his 13th season in charge of the CMU women's program, with a 278-88 record (.759). In RMAC play, he has a 206-60 mark (.774). He's the second-longest tenured coach in program history and is also second in wins.
Wagner took the Mavericks to the Division II Elite Eight in his first season, has won or shared in six conference regular-season championships, two RMAC Tournament titles, earned seven regional tournament bids and six RMAC Coach of the Year awards, including 2023-24.
Adam Jacobson took over Western Colorado's program in May of 2022 after two seasons as the head coach at North Dakota State College of Science, taking his team to the NJCAA Division I national tournament in 2021-22 with a 30-3 record.
He was a longtime assistant coach at several schools, including stops at the University of Mary, University of North Dakota and Gillette College.
His first team at Western went 6-21, 5-17 in the conference, then went 7-20 last season with another 5-17 conference mark.
Asami Morita is in her second season at Westminster after two years as an assistant at the University of Nevada, Reno. She has extensive coaching experience in Japan, as an assistant for the Shiga Lakestars, a men's professional team in Japan's B League, and was the head coach at Kansai University in Osaka, her alma mater. She earned her master's degree at Idaho State and began coaching in the U.S. as an assistant at Arizona Western.
In her first season at Westminster, the Griffins went 3-25, 1-21 in RMAC play.
DYK?
There are 20 Colorado players on the rosters for Tuesday's Western Slope showdown game, but only three are from the Western Slope, all on CMU's roster. And in a rarity, all three of those players — Mason Rowland (Durango), Cayden King (Craig) and Joslyn Spires (Glenwood Springs) are redshirting this season. Rowland, last season's RMAC Freshman of the Year, was injured in the third game of this season. The Mavs have 13 players from Colorado high schools on their roster, Western Colorado has seven.
