PUEBLO, Colo. — When it mattered most Thursday night, the Colorado Mesa women's basketball team knocked down shots and Brooklyn Palmer came up with two huge defensive stops.
The Mavericks won their seventh straight game, 72-65, at CSU Pueblo, leaving them all alone in first place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference after the first game of the second half of conference play.
Tied at 63-63 with 2:23 to play, Colorado Mesa (14-4, 9-2 RMAC) outscored the ThunderWolves (12-7, 7-4) 9-2 the rest of the way. After Alisha Little's final points gave her a game-high 29, CMU hit seven of eight free throws in the final two minutes and Olivia Reed Thyne made a nice move in the paint for a layup around Little.
The junior forward's bucket inside gave her 17 points to go with seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
As was the case in the nonconference meeting earlier this season at Brownson Arena, the Mavericks' balance made the difference, with four players reaching double figures. Hayes scored 16 points, Mykaela Moore had 12, including some tough drives to the basket early in the game when the ThunderWolves were focusing their defense on Reed Thyne, and Kylie Kravig had 11 points and six assists. Since moving into the starting lineup four games ago, Moore is averaging 11.2 points a game — her season average is 4.6.
Brynae Stewart chipped in 11 points for the Pack, the only other player in double figures for CSU Pueblo.
The defensive plan against Little, who leads the RMAC in scoring by a couple of points over Reed Thyne, was to have Palmer, the Mavs' 6-foot-2 senior post, defend her, with either Reed or one of the guards helping out on the weak side. Little had only nine points in the first half, but got going in the second when Palmer got into foul trouble, but two key possessions late helped seal the victory for CMU.
With CMU holding a 65-63 lead and Palmer playing with four fouls, CSU Pueblo went inside to Little, but Palmer got both hands up and forced Little to miss the layup. Palmer snagged the rebound and drew a foul.
She made both of her free throws to put CMU up four, and on the next trip down, the ThunderWolves went right back to Little. Before she could get a shot off, Palmer's defense forced her to lose the ball out of bounds under the basket. Reed Thyne scored off that turnover, taking a high post pass from Palmer, and CMU was up six, 69-63, with 55 seconds remaining.
After two free throws by Kravig, Landry Hudson scored the only points of the final two minutes for CSU Pueblo after she grabbed an offensive rebound, and Palmer added one more free throw in the final seconds.
The Mavericks went 21 of 31 from the free throw line, a season high for makes and attempts, with Reed Thyne making six of seven and Hayes and Kravig hitting four each.
A hot start in the second quarter allowed CMU to build an 11-point lead in the opening three minutes. Kravig opened the scoring with a 3-pointer, Reed added a pair of free throws and Kravig a driving layup to push the lead to 21-13. Macy Larsen pulled up for a jumper just outside the lane and Reed was fouled inside and made one of two free throws.
That made it 24-13 before CSU Pueblo made a little run to cut it to six in the final minute. Reed Thyne made two free throws just before halftime to put CMU up 40-32.
A 3-pointer by Hayes in the opening two minutes of the third quarter put CMU up a dozen, 46-34, and Moore's corner 3 at the 7:27 mark made it 49-36.
Little scored off a CMU turnover with just more than four minutes to play in the third quarter to cut CMU's lead to seven, and after the two All-America forward traded misses inside, Reed Thyne ran the floor for a transition layup.
The ThunderWolves pulled within two points with 1:38 on the clock, but Reed Thyne hit a 3 from the top of the key and the Mavericks held a five-point advantage, 57-52, heading into the final 10 minutes.
The Mavericks, who have another crucial road game Saturday afternoon at CU-Colorado Springs, outrebounded the Pack 40-33, shot nearly 41 percent from the field and hit seven 3-pointers.
CSU Pueblo matched the Mavs from the 3-point line and shot nearly 43 percent, but turned the ball over 16 times, leading to 15 points for CMU.
CU-Colorado Springs, which downed the Mavericks in the RMAC opener at Brownson Arena in early December, defeated Western Colorado 54-45 to drop the Mountaineers out of a tie atop the RMAC with the Mavericks. Western is one game back at 8-3, and Black Hills State was upset by Chadron State to fall into a four-way tie for third with CSU Pueblo, Adams State and New Mexico Highlands.
Saturday's game tips off at 1 p.m. and will be shown free of charge on the RMAC Network.
