GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — As far as inside-outside combinations go, Olivia Reed Thyne and Riley Hayes are about as good as it gets.
The two became what's believed to be the first duo in Colorado Mesa women's basketball history to each score 30 or more points in a game Thursday in the Mavericks' 86-54 victory over New Mexico Highlands in the first game back from the holiday break.
With Reed Thyne putting up 28 of her 31 points inside the paint, Hayes took care of the perimeter scoring with a career-high 33 points. In the process, she tied Jaylyn Duran's program record of nine made 3-pointers — and the Mavericks were doing everything they could to get her one more, with Duran, now an assistant coach, urging her on from the bench. More than one of her made 3s was a "heat check" shot, well behind the arc.
"I think just in practice all week, I've kind of been building my confidence, and the team's been right there with me," Hayes said. "And so I think confidence was the biggest thing, just coming in there, knowing I can hit those shots."
Usually, coaches worry about the first game back after the 10-day layoff, but two minutes into this one, the Mavericks showed there was no rust.
"I was really happy. You know, the first quarter, I thought the offense was flowing really good," coach Taylor Wagner said. "Liv's scoring in the paint, Riley's hitting 3s and, and then just the whole game, I felt offensively, they were on point and finding each other and sharing the ball, and that's what we talked about all week. So it was fun to see."
Highlands (5-6, 2-3 RMAC) had a 4- lead at the 8:14 mark, but four layups by Reed Thyne, who has scored at least 30 points in each of the past three games and a 3 from Hayes made it 11-7 and the Mavs (8-4, 3-2 RMAC) were off and running.
And they ran because they controlled the boards, out-rebounding Highlands 50-23. Reed Thyne used the Mavs' size advantage by scoring at will inside, making 13 of 19 baskets. On one of her misses, she grabbed her own rebound and put the ball back in — it was her only offensive board of the game She also blocked two shots.
"The beginning of the game, I just tried to run the floor, and that seems to get a lot of things open for us," the Mavs' junior forward said. "I think it was a little bit of that and then, yeah, (taking advantage of) matchups and stuff."
Reed Thyne had 12 rebounds, her eighth double-double of the season, Brooklyn Palmer and Claire Heitschmidt had nine each and Kylie Kravig had seven to go along with her 11 assists.
Up 26-19 at the end of the first quarter after Reed Thyne hit a 3 at the horn, CMU took total control in the second. The Mavericks rattled off the first 18 points of the quarter to push the advantage to 44-19 at the 3:26 mark. They outscored the Cowgirls 20-8 in the quarter to take a 46-27 lead into the locker room.
By halftime, Hayes had 22 points and Reed Thyne 17. They didn't let up after halftime, using a 15-0 scoring run and putting up three times as many points as Highlands, 21-7.
Colorado Mesa finished the game shooting 49% from the field and held Highlands to 36.8%.
Despite two players dominating the scoring, the Mavericks got good contributions from everyone. Palmer had five points and six assists, most of them on passes from the high post to Reed Thyne for layups.
Claire Heitschmidt came off the bench with her best game of this season, with the nine rebounds and four points, including a fallaway hook shot.
Lauryn Deede chipped in four points, Mykaela Moore five and freshman Sedonia Isenbart made her collegiate debut, spelling Kravig at point guard and scoring her first collegiate basket on a fastbreak layup in the final minutes.
Colorado Mesa plays host to Adams State at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
"Claire started last year, and she's not now and we kind of talked when she came back from the break, we need you if we're going to do something special this year. She needs to step up. And I thought all week in practice she was locked in," Wagner said of Heitschmidt. "That carried over in the game, and there were some other girls too that you knew they were going to have a nice game. Riley looked phenomenal in practice, with a lot of confidence. She does a lot for us, and it's just one of those things where hopefully it all starts to click for us."
