CANYON, Texas – The No. 21 Colorado Mesa women's basketball team's comeback effort fell just short in an 85-70 loss to the host West Texas A&M Buffs on the first day of the D2 Conference Challenge event at the First United Bank Center.
 
The two teams played the first half at a high level as the two regional powers displayed strong defense. West Texas shot just 33 percent from the field while the Mavericks were at 25 percent in the first period of action.
 
The game got away from the Mavericks in the second and fourth quarters where the Buffs had a 51-37 advantage in those two quarters. In the fourth quarter, not a ton of defense was played as the two teams scored a total of 57 points in the frame.
 
The Mavericks cut the lead to five with 6:35 to play in the fourth quarter at 61-56 after a made bucket from Mason Rowland. The Buffs proceeded to extend the lead to 13 after a 9-1 run in the next one minute and 29 seconds of game time.
 
Each team finished the game with 15 turnovers but the Buffs converted those turnovers into points as they picked up 18 points off turnovers. Colorado Mesa converted the 15 Buff turnovers into just eight points.
 
Mason Rowland and Hallie Clark tied for the team high with 14 points. Rowland was perfect on the day going 6-for-6 from the field that included 2-for-2 from the three-point line. The freshman Clark scored 11 of her 14 points in the first half and finished 5-for-11 from the field and 3-for-5 from the arc.
 
West Texas A&M's Karley Motschenbacher led five Buffs in double figures as she finished with a game-high 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field.
 
The Mavericks will conclude their Texas road swing on Sunday as they will take on the Texas Permian Basin Falcons in Odessa with the tip scheduled for 11:00am mountain.