SPEARFISH, S.D. — From a 2-2 conference start, the Colorado Mesa women's basketball team has battled all the way into a tie for first place.
The Mavericks rode a terrific first half by Olivia Reed Thyne, who outscored Black Hills State 18-15 in the first 20 minutes, and although she didn't score in the second half, the Mavericks claimed a 57-41 victory. The win was the 800th in program history and coach Taylor Wagner's 100th road victory in his CMU tenure.
It pulled the Mavs even with the Yellow Jackets atop the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings at 7-2 heading into Saturday afternoon's game at Chadron State, which won its second conference game of the season Thursday 63-43 over Westminster. Western Colorado, which plays at Black Hills on Saturday, and CSU Pueblo also won on Thursday to join CMU and the 'Jackets in a first-place logjam.
The Yellow Jackets opted not to double-team Reed Thyne in the low post and she made them pay, scoring CMU's first eight points and 12 of the first 18, going 9 of 15 from the field.
With the Mavs' defense holding Black Hills to only 20% from the field and scoreless from the 3-point line in 10 attempts, they built the lead to 34-15 at the break. A 12-0 scoring run set the tone, with Reed Thyne scoring a dozen points in the first quarter and the Mavs taking an 18-6 advantage.
It was more of the same in the second quarter, but six points from Kylie Kravig took some of the workload off the Mavs' All-America forward, who made three of her four attempts.
The Yellow Jackets picked up their pressure in the full court in the second half and pushed out on the ballhandlers, trying to deny passes to the post. Instead of shooting (only three shots in the second half), Reed Thyne set high ball screens to free the guards to attack from the wings.
Riley Hayes scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half and Mykaela Moore added seven, five of which came from the free throw line. Moore finished the game with nine points and Kravig 12. Reed Thyne grabbed 10 rebounds to record her 11th double-double of the season.
CMU cashed in on nine of 10 attempts from the line, Black Hills only seven of 21 — CMU was called for 12 fouls in the second half after being whistled only six times in the first.
The 15 points are the fewest the Mavericks have allowed in the first half in a game this season — Colorado Christian and Northwest Missouri State each scored 20 points in the first half — but the Yellow Jackets rallied in the third quarter.
An 8-0 opening run, with a pair of 3-pointers, cut CMU's lead to 11 points, but Hayes answered with a trey and Kravig followed that with one of her own. Black Hills made one more run, whittling a 14-point deficit to seven three minutes into the fourth quarter, but Moore drove for a layup and Hayes pulled up for a 17-footer, followed by a driving layup by Kravig, drawing a foul and making the bonus.
The lead was back to 14 after Moore was fouled on a drive and made two free throws with 4:24 remaining. A reverse layup by Hayes with 1:10 remaining sealed it.
After shooting 44 percent from the field in the first half, the Mavs cooled off somewhat in the second and finished at 37.9 percent. Neither team shot it well from the perimeter, with the Mavs making four of 15 from the 3-point line and the Yellow Jackets, who shot 25.9 percent from the field, made four of 20.
