GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — It's shaping up to be another wild ride in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference women's basketball.
Heading into the final week of the first half of conference play, there's a three-way tie for second place among Colorado Mesa, Western Colorado and CSU Pueblo at 6-2, one game behind 7-1 Black Hills State.
Adams State is one more game back at 5-3, and MSU Denver upended Regis on Tuesday to pull even with the Rangers at 5-4.
If you recall, four teams, including CMU, tied for the regular-season conference championship last season.
BATTLE FOR RMAC LEAD
The marquee game of the week will be played at 5 p.m. Thursday in Spearfish, S.D., when Colorado Mesa faces Black Hills State. The Mavericks are riding a conference-best four-game winning streak (five straight RMAC wins dating to Dec. 14). The Yellow Jackets split a long road trip, being stunned 77-63 at New Mexico Highlands before rebounding with a 61-43 win at Fort Lewis.
The Donald E. Young Center in Spearfish is a tough place to play, especially after the longest bus ride of the season. Colorado Mesa is 3-7 in Spearfish, and if the Mavericks can extend their winning streak with another road win, it would give them a share of the conference lead. CMU is 6-4 in the past 10 games against the Yellow Jackets, and most games are close, just like last season's 53-51 home thriller.
In looking at the numbers, as always, it'll come down to which team can defend and execute its offense the best. CMU leads the conference in scoring at 72.3 points per game and gives up 58.7, second in the RMAC.
Black Hills, which received four votes in this week's D2CSC rankings, averages 67 points a game and allows 59.4, just behind CMU.
The teams are 1-2 in field goal percentage, with the Mavs at 44.3 percent and Black Hills 43.9, and they're 4-5 in field goal defense. The Yellow Jackets allow teams to shoot 38.6 percent, the Mavericks 39.8.
Where the Mavs have their biggest advantage is at the 3-point line, where they average 7.4 made 3s per game to the Yellow Jackets' 4.8. Rebounding is virtually even, with both teams grabbing about 38 per game, although Black Hills has an 8.07 rebounding margin to CMU's 6.73.
Individually, everything starts with Olivia Reed Thyne for the Mavericks, but CMU's balance has steadily improved this month. Reed Thyne is second in the conference in scoring (22.6), first in rebounding (11.8) and first in shooting percentage (59.8). Nationally, she's third in rebounding, tied for fifth with her 10 double-doubles, fifth in scoring and No. 10 in field goal percentage.
On the perimeter, Riley Hayes leads the conference and all of Division II, making 3.4 treys per game and is No. 1 in the RMAC with her 36.7-percent shooting from beyond the arc. Kylie Kravig sets up CMU's efficient offense with 7 assists per game, and has a stellar 2.28 assist/turnover ratio, with 105 assists to 46 turnovers. Kravig is fourth in Division II in assists and 15th in assist/turnover ratio.
Hayes is 11th in the RMAC with a 14.2 scoring average, Kravig adds another 10.7, Brooklyn Palmer 7.4 and Macy Larsen 7.3. Mykaela Moore, who got her first start of the season last Saturday, has been solid off the bench, scoring 3.4 points and bringing plenty of defense and hustle to the floor.
Black Hills State is led by the 1-2 punch of Haylee Weathersby (14.2 ppg) and Kalla Bertram (14.07 ppg/7.13 rpg), with Bradie Schlabs grabbing another 6.6 rebounds a game and dishing out 4.7 assists. Morgan Hammerback is also scoring in double figures for the 'Jackets at 12.2 per game.
Weathersby is right behind Reed Thyne in scoring efficiency, shooting 57.8 percent from the field, with Bertram fourth at 46.5 percent.
The Mavericks have shot nearly 50 percent from the field over the past four games, including a season-high 54.9 percent against Adams State. Defensively, they've held their opponents to 37.3 percent shooting in that span.
DON'T FORGET THE EAGLES
Saturday afternoon, the Mavericks make a stop in Chadron, Neb., on their way back to Colorado, facing the Eagles, who have struggled to slow down opposing offenses this season.
Chadron State allows 76.9 points per game, the most in the conference, and is seventh in the RMAC in scoring at 63.9.
Ashayla Powers broke Chadron State's career rebounding record earlier this month and enters the week with 615 boards. She averages 6.4 rebounds a game, 13th in the conference. She also leads the Eagles (2-12, 1-7 RMAC) in scoring at 12.1 points per game, with Kylie Krise adding 11.1 points and 5.4 rebounds and Allison Richards 10.5 points and 3.1 boards.
As a team, Chadron State shoots 38 percent from the field and 29 percent from the 3-point line, making six per game, the same amount the Eagles allow opponents.
If they get to the line, though, the Eagles make teams pay, shooting 79 percent from the line, second in the RMAC, just ahead of CMU's 78.8 percent.
MOVING UP
After the first three teams, the D2 College Sports Communicators regional rankings have rotated week to week.
The Mavericks have bounced around the top 10 all season, starting at No. 3 in the preseason. They were No. 10 last week, but climbed five spots to fifth this week. Black Hills State is ranked No. 4, up one spot, with CSU Pueblo dropping from No. 4 to tied for No. 9 after going 0-2 last week. Western Colorado stayed at No. 7 after a 1-1 week, including a two-point home loss to the Mavericks.
Texas Woman's, Texas-Tyler and Lubbock Christian are the top three teams in the poll.
The D2CSC poll is voted on by sports information directors in each region, and does not have a bearing on which teams receive bids to the regional playoffs. The official NCAA regional rankings are released the final three weeks of the season and determine the eight playoff teams in each of the eight regions. The RMAC Tournament champion receives an automatic bid along with the Lone Star Conference Tournament champion, with six at-large berths up for grabs.
SATURDAYS ARE FOR THE GIRLS
It seems the Mavericks like playing day games on the weekend, with a perfect 6-0 record on Saturdays. They're 8-2 in games that tip off before 5 p.m. local time. The Mavericks have played on all but two days of the week so far this season: Sunday and Monday.
CMU is 6-1 when wearing the home white uniforms. However, the one home loss came when the Mavs wore their new gray uniforms. CMU is 3-1 wearing the grays, 1-0 in "Mavroon" and 1-2 in black.
THE COACHES
Taylor Wagner is in his 13th season as Colorado Mesa's head coach, the second-longest tenure in program history. He's won 280 games to date, also the second-most in the program and is the only coach to take the Mavericks to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight (2013), going 31-2 in his first season.
Colorado Mesa made the Sweet 16 in 2014 and have reached the NCAA Tournament seven times in his time in Grand Junction.
He won 100 of his first 118 games at the helm and has been the RMAC Coach of the Year six times.
Rachel Erickson is in her first season as the Yellow Jackets' head coach, replacing her former coach, Mark Nore, who was elevated to athletic director last spring.
Erickson was a two-year starter at Black Hills State and the Jackets went 69-45 during her four years. After graduating in 2018, she received her master's at Black Hills while serving as a graduate assistant coach for Nore. She was previously an assistant at the University of Sioux Falls and Colorado State.
Travis Brewster is in his second season as the head coach at Chadron State but has been a head coach for 20 years.
He came to Chadron after two years at NAIA's Saint Xavier in Chicago and was at the University of North Dakota as an assistant and then head coach from 2008-2020 after stops at Iowa Lakes Community College, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and South Dakota State.
DYK?
This is a homecoming trip for Olivia Reed Thyne, who played at Chadron High School as a freshman and sophomore while her father, Houston, was Chadron State's men's head coach. The family moved back to Colorado when Houston Reed was hired as an assistant at Northern Colorado, with Olivia and Johnnie Reed starring at Windsor. The siblings will reunite Thursday — Johnnie is a freshman on the Black Hills State men's team.
BONUS DYK
Colorado Mesa is seeking the 800th win in program history — the Mavericks are 799-558 (.589) all-time. The program began in the 1975-76 season.
