GUNNISON, Colo. — As expected, Tuesday night's Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference women's basketball game between Colorado Mesa and Western Colorado went right down to the final horn at Paul Wright Gym.
This time, the Mountaineers' final shot at the horn fell short and the Mavericks hung on for a key 62-60 road victory.
The win pulled CMU (10-4, 5-2 RMAC) into a tie with Western Colorado (10-4, 5-2) for third place in the conference behind CSU Pueblo and Black Hills State, both 6-0 in conference play. The Mavericks have won three straight and and five of their past six games.
A 10-0 third-quarter run over the final 2:09 turned a nine-point deficit into a one-point lead after Riley Hayes hit a 3-pointer with seven seconds remaining, and CMU didn't trail again.
The Mountaineers tied it with 1:14 to play in the game when Rachel Cockman hit a 3-pointer, but the Mavs quickly responded.
The offense worked the ball and it ended up in Olivia Reed Thyne's hands at the top of the key. She drew the defense and passed out to Brooklyn Palmer at the top of the key, who buried a 3-pointer with five seconds left on the shot clock for a 59-56 lead with 43 seconds remaining.
Twice in the final 35 seconds, Western cut it to one point but CMU made three of four free throws to maintain the lead.
Still, the Mountaineers had a chance to tie or win it at the horn, but they were out of timeouts, so they couldn't advance the ball to the frontcourt. CMU only had three team fouls, so Hayes committed a foul in the backcourt after a couple of seconds, and Western had only 6.8 seconds to set up the final shot.
Ivey Schmidt brought the ball to the left wing, where Palmer and Mykaela Moore double-teamed her. As she picked up her dribble and tried to step into a long jump shot, Reed Thyne came up to challenge, and the ball fell short of the rim at the horn.
Reed Thyne, who played all but 1½ minutes, finished with 26 points and 14 rebounds, her 10th double-double of the season. Kravig hit a pair of 3-pointers and added 13 points and Palmer scored nine, all in the second half. Kravig and Hayes played all 40 minutes, and Palmer, who missed all but the first four minutes of the first half after picking up her second foul, played the entire second half.
Early on, the Mountaineers threatened to run away with the game, taking a 22-11 three minutes into the second quarter. That's when Mesa got tougher on the boards, which transitioned into its offense to get back in the game.
Macy Larsen hit a 3-pointer, Reed Thyne scored seven points and Kravig four in the final 6:15, and the Mavs were down only two at halftime.
With just less than three minutes left in the third quarter, Natalie Jojola and Hayes were battling for a rebound, both hitting the floor. Jojola appeared to hit her head hard on the floor, causing a delay of several minutes while medical personnel assisted her. She walked off the court with assistance, but after Schmidt made a layup 30 seconds later, the Mountaineers didn't score the rest of the quarter.
Moore again gave CMU good minutes off the bench, scoring four points, with five rebounds and two assists and helped contain Western's perimeter shooters. The Mountaineers made only four of 17 attempts from the 3-point line — CMU was five of 19 — and shot 41.7% from the field to the Mavericks' 43.4%. Western Colorado made two more field goals, 25, than CMU, but the Mavericks scored 11 points at the free throw line to Western Colorado's six.
Schmidt finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds for Western Colorado.
Saturday's game against Westminster is the final home game of January for the Mavericks, who make the long trip to Black Hills State and Chadron State next week, followed by road games at CSU Pueblo and CU-Colorado Springs. Tipoff Saturday at Brownson Arena is at 1 p.m.
