GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — After a 10-day break for the holidays, it's back to Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference business for the Colorado Mesa women's basketball team.
The Mavericks (7-4, 2-2 RMAC) return to conference play this week, hosting a much-improved New Mexico Highlands team at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday (Jan. 9) and one of last season's quad-champions, Adams State, at 1 p.m. on Saturday (Jan. 11).
The players returned to Grand Junction just before the New Year and have spent the time since working on "everything," coach Taylor Wagner said, starting with plenty of conditioning drills to get their legs and lungs back after 10 days off.
The first couple of games back from the holiday break can be ragged, but Wagner is hoping the Mavericks' work the past two weeks and the fact that they're at Brownson Arena for three of their next four games will help.
As for the grind over the next two months of conference play, he wants to see improvement from the Mavericks' defense, which is fifth in the RMAC, allowing 60.8 points a game, and middle of the pack in field goal defense at 40.8 percent.
"The offense is going to evolve. You never know what you're going to have week to week with kids being hurt or sick or it's just not their night," he said. "We've got to be more consistent on the offensive side, but defense is where I think we can improve fast. That's what I want us to really concentrate on. Teams are getting too many good shots, the percentage is really high from where we need to be. (I want to see) teams taking tougher shots and us coming up with big rebounds, and hopefully that leads to more possessions for us and in the long run, more wins."
LAST TIME OUT
The Mavericks took a trip to Florida just before the holidays, splitting a pair of games in the Nova Southeastern Holiday Invitational.
Behind Olivia Reed Thyne's dominating weekend and a solid defensive effort, the Mavericks defeated Northwest Missouri State 64-45, holding the Bearcats to 28.8 percent shooting, only 16 percent from the 3-point line. Reed Thyne scored what was a career high, with 33 points, and had 18 rebounds, dominating play in the paint. Three others, Riley Hayes, Brooklyn Palmer and Macy Larsen, scored eight points each.
The second game, against then-No. 8 Pittsburg State, saw the Mavericks come out like gangbusters, taking a 21-12 lead after the first quarter. The Gorillas, though, dominated the rest of the way, outscoring CMU by 28 points over the final three quarters in a 95-81 victory.
Reed Thyne, however, poured in a career-high and program-record 45 points, breaking Kristi Courter's mark of 42 that was set in 1980. Kylie Kravig had 13 points and Larsen added 11 in the loss.
The 81 points were the most the Mavericks have scored this season, and the most since putting up 87 last January against Fort Lewis.
It was the first time the Mavericks have given up 90 or more points in a game in Taylor Wagner's tenure other than a couple of exhibition games against Division I teams.
The last time CMU allowed 90 points in a regular-season game was Feb. 25, 2012 against Fort Lewis.
"It was good to face a team like that in Pittsburg State," Wagner said. "They're as good as their ranking was, and hopefully it will help us in conference play later this month."
AWARDS SWEEP
Reed Thyne, who leads the RMAC in rebounding (11.8) and is second in scoring (22.0), made a clean sweep of the RMAC Player of the Week awards after the holiday tournaments, earning both the offensive and defensive honors.
The junior forward from Windsor scored scored 78 points and grabbed 24 rebounds, an average of a whopping 39 points and 12 rebounds in the two games. She made a program-record 17 field goals against Pittsburg State.
NUMBERS GAME
Kylie Kravig is third in Division II in assists per game (6.6), 11th in the nation in assists with 73, and is 22nd in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.15). She leads the conference in all three categories, and is second in free throw percentage (85.7).
Olivia Reed Thyne is No. 1 in the RMAC in rebounding (11.8), field goal percentage (57.7) and free throw percentage (88.1) and second in scoring (22.0). She's 15th in the nation in field goal percentage, tied for 26th in free throw percentage, fifth in scoring and fourth in rebounding. Her seven double-doubles are tied for sixth in the nation and second in the RMAC.
Riley Hayes is the top 3-point shooter in the conference, making 36.6 percent from long range, an average of 3.1 treys made per game. She's seventh in the nation in 3-pointers made.
As a team, the Mavericks are first in the RMAC and second in the nation in free throw percentage (82.6), making 143 of 173.
SCOUTING THE COWGIRLS
New Mexico Highlands (5-5, 2-2) won only six games all of last season and appears to be on an uptick in the program, with the third-highest scoring team in the RMAC, averaging 68.9 points per game, behind CMU's 70.6 and Regis' 70.5.
Juliana Aragon is leading Highlands in scoring at 15.6 points, with Kapiolani Anitielu adding 14.7 points a game. Aragon, a 5-foot-5 junior point guard, has come off the bench in all 10 games so far this season, and is a 3-point threat, shooting 35 percent from the arc, hitting 13 of 37. Anitielu, a 5-11 freshman guard who averages six rebounds a game and has blocked a dozen shots, has made 14 treys.
Thursday's game will be the first in 25 days for the Cowgirls, who haven't played since a 72-64 home loss to Adams State on Dec. 14.
SCOUTING THE GRIZZLIES
Adams State has been in every game this season, as evidence by its 1.0 scoring margin — the Grizzlies average 64.8 points per game and give up 63.8 points.
Kiiyani Anitielu is scoring 15 points a game, with nine blocked shots, for the Grizzlies, with Angeline Nageak adding 10.8 points and Taejhuan Hill 10.3. Hill, a 6-foot freshman forward, is the leading rebounder on the team at 7.8 per game.
The Grizzlies have a signature win against Angelo State, a 58-57 thriller in San Angelo, Texas — the Rambelles are 10-3. Consistency has been Adams State's biggest issue — the Grizzlies have split games every weekend until sweeping Fort Lewis and New Mexico Highlands before the holiday break.
Like Highlands, Adams State has not played since their conference game on Dec. 14.
THE COACHES
Taylor Wagner is in his 13th season in charge of the CMU women's program, with a 276-88 record (.758). In RMAC play, he has a 204-60 mark (.772). He's the second-longest tenured coach in program history and is also second in wins, behind Steve Kirkham, who won 299 games in 16 seasons (1988-2004).
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.
Lindsey Fearing took over as the head coach at New Mexico Highlands early last season and the Cowgirls have steadily improved.
She had been the Cowgirls' assistant head coach after four years as the head coach at Central Wyoming in the NJCAA. Fearing played junior college basketball at Casper College, then transferred to Arizona before finishing her career and receiving her degree at Black Hills State.
Highlands was 6-22 her first season but enters the weekend 5-5.
Mario Caetano is in his third season as the head coach at Adams State after a year as the interim head coach. During his interim season, the Grizzlies went 12-15 and were eight in the RMAC. After being elevated to the head coaching position, Adams State took off and has hosted first-round RMAC Tournament games and reached the semifinals the past two years.
Last season, the Grizzlies won a program-best 25 games and made it to the second round of the South Central Regional playoffs.
Including his year as the interim coach, Caetano is 66-38 at Adams State, 47-23 in conference play.
DYK?
Sisters will make appearances in Brownson Arena this week, but not on the same night. On Thursday, freshman Kapiolani Anitielu will lead New Mexico Highlands against the Mavericks, and on Saturday, her older sister, junior Kiiyani Anitielu, will play for Adams State. Another sister, sophomore Kamalani, is redshirting at Highlands this season. The sisters are from Farmington, New Mexico.
