The No. 13 Colorado Mesa women's basketball team are back at home in Brownson Arena for their Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference home opener on Saturday as they host Colorado School of Mines. The Mavericks are coming off a road sweep of UCCS and Colorado Christian to begin the conference season 2-0.
LAST TIME OUT
Colorado Mesa opened the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference portion of the schedule on the road against preseason No. 2 UCCS and Colorado Christian. The Mavericks were able to earn a pair of big wins to open the season 2-0 alongside South Dakota Mines and Adams State.
Against UCCS, the Mavericks used a first and third quarter surge to pick up a 73-47 win over the Mountain Lions.
Mason Rowland had a season-high 26 points while
Olivia Reed Thyne had 18 points and 11 rebounds in the win.
Jenna Krise had her best output as a Maverick with 14 points in 22 minutes.
Two days later, the Mavericks handed the Colorado Christian Cougars a 35-point loss with a 78-43 getaway win. Rowland had another stellar game going for 24 points and six rebounds while Reed Thyne finished with 17 points and nine rebounds. Freshman
Hallie Clark had 10 points, three rebounds, and three assists.
DEFENSE IS THE NAME OF THE GAME
Colorado Mesa ranks in the top-20 nationally in two major defensive categories, field goal percentage defense and scoring defense. The Mavericks are allowing opponents to shoot just 31.8 percent from the field ranking them No. 8 nationally. They limited upstart Saint Martin's to just 21.1 percent from the field while West Texas A&M has been the high for the year at 46.9 percent.
They are allowing teams to score just 52.5 points per game which ranks No. 19 in all of NCAA Division II. The Mavericks have held five opponents under 50 points including a 39 point game from Texas A&M-Kingsville. Only two teams have scored more than 60 points in Western Washington (62) and West Texas A&M (85).
Both marks are tops in the RMAC.
SCORING MACHINE
After scoring 50 points in the Mavericks two games, redshirt sophomore
Mason Rowland was named the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week.
The 5-foot-7 guard from Durango scored 50 points over the weekend helping lead the nation's 14
th-ranked Mavericks to a pair of convincing RMAC road wins on the opening weekend of conference play.
She scored a career-high 26 points on 10-for-20 shooting and made four 3-pointers in the Mavs' 73-47 win at UCCS on Thursday. Rowland then made a career-high six 3-pointers and scored 24 points on 7-for-13 shooting in the Mavs' 78-43 win at Colorado Christian on Saturday.
Rowland, who missed much of the 2024-25 season due to injury, has been in double figures in all 11 of the Mavs' games and is leading the team while ranking second in the conference with her 17.7 per game scoring average. Rowland also ranks second in the RMAC for 3-point field goal percentage at .429, having made 27 of 63 attempts. She is also 44-for-53 from the free throw line and ranks second in the RMAC with her .830 percentage.
RECORD WATCHING CONTINUED
Senior
Olivia Reed Thyne is on a path to claim several records during her final season with the Mavericks. The Windsor, Colo. native has already claimed the all-time rebound and all-time field goals made records earlier this season and is on pace to claim the all-time scoring mark which currently sits at 1,920.
She is currently 143 points away from tying the record that was set by Tonya Stites in the early 1990s.
CAREER SCORING
- Tonya Stites, 1,920
- Olivia Reed Thyne, 1,777
SCOUTING COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES
The Orediggers got off to a rough start this season but faced some of the tougher teams in the region and in the country. They dropped games to No. 20 UT Tyler, No. 3 Texas Woman's, and No. 8 Minnesota State but will enter the game with Colorado Mesa having won two of their past three games.
The Orediggers are led by former Maverick Brittany Simpson (Rowley) in her 14
th season at the helm. She has accrued a 234-145 record and led Mines to five trips to the NCAA National Tournament since her arrival.
Jenna Shandy (Seibert) has played in and started all nine games for the Orediggers and averages 12.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game. She had a season-high 27 points against Rogers State on November 25.
The Mavericks lead the all-time series with Mines 63-21 and have won the last two meetings with one each in Grand Junction and Golden.
THE STAFF
Taylor Wagner enters his 14th season at Colorado Mesa in 2024-25, the second-longest tenure in program history. Coach Wagner reached his 300
th win at Colorado Mesa on Saturday November 22 with a 102-53 win over Alaska Fairbanks in Salt Lake City. The 300
th win also made him the all-time winningest coach in Colorado Mesa women's basketball history eclipsing the 299 wins Steve Kirkham collected from 1988-to-2004.
Wagner made the NCAA Tournament in each of his first three years as coach, including runs to the Elite Eight in 2013 and the Sweet Sixteen in 2014. He has led his team to eight total NCAA Tournament appearances ('13, '14, '15, '19, '20, '22, '24, '25).
During his first season, Wagner took a team that finished the previous season 13-14 and turned it into a 31-2 team that reached the NCAA Elite Eight, defeating Midwestern State 69-65 in front of 1,975 fans in Brownson Arena to secure the South Central Region title.
That Mavericks team set an RMAC record for the most consecutive regular-season victories at 25, spanning from Nov. 8, 2013 to Feb. 28, 2014. Wagner won his 100th game at the helm of the Mavericks on Feb. 19, 2016 against Chadron State. It took him just 118 games to reach the mark.
Wagner is on the precipice of becoming the Mavericks all-time wins leader this season as he needs five wins to tie Steve Kirkham and six wins would give him 300 in his time at Colorado Mesa along with the top spot on the coaching table.
COLORADO MESA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ALL-TIME COACHING WINS
Taylor Wagner, 304-91
Steve Kirkham, 299-157
Timi Brown, 58-79
Jack Scott, 49-59
Roger Walters, 38-42
Assistant coach
Hannah Pollart is starting her 10th season as the Mavs' top assistant coach, working primarily with the post players. Pollart played one season for the Mavericks, helping CMU reach the South Central Regional championship game in 2013-14. She averaged 7.2 points and 6.1 rebounds.
Before transferring to CMU, Pollart played two seasons at Northeastern Junior College, where she was an All-Region IX player and an NJCAA Academic All-American. She played her junior season at Cameron University.
Jaylyn Duran is entering her second season on the coaching staff. Duran played at CMU from 2015-2019, averaging 12.6 points for her career, including 18.6 points as a senior, when she was the RMAC Player of the Year and a WBCA honorable mention All-America selection.
A CMU graduate with a degree in Kinesiology/ Fitness & Health Promotion, Duran scored 1,352 points, eighth in program history, and is first all-time in 3-point field goals made (265).
COLORADO MESA TURNS 100
The CMU Century Celebration stands as the cornerstone of Colorado Mesa University's year-long centennial celebration. This ambitious initiative unites our community in honoring a rich heritage while boldly envisioning the next hundred years of academic excellence.
Led by the Steering Committee and six specialized sub-committees, we're orchestrating a transformative experience that will resonate through generations. Each committee brings unique expertise to create an unforgettable commemoration of our past, present and future.
To learn more about Colorado Mesa's 100-year celebration, visit cmucentury.com
MAVS ON THE RMAC NETWORK
The RMAC Network has moved to a pay-pre-view model for the upcoming 2025-26 season. This season, all RMAC athletic events broadcast by its 15 full-member institutions and associate members will only be available for purchase via a single-game pass or a monthly or annual subscription. Revenue generated by the network will be redistributed to the league's membership to enhance their programs.
RMAC fans can purchase monthly and annual subscriptions that will provide them with access to all regular-season, championship, and archived broadcasts on the RMAC Network. A monthly subscription costs $25, and an annual subscription costs $130. Single-game passes are available for $10, which grants access to a single game for 24 hours.
Additionally, a discounted annual subscription price will be available to students, faculty, and staff of each member institution throughout the year. Purchasing options and pricing for individual RMAC Championships will be announced closer to each event.
UP NEXT
The Mavericks will head to Idaho for the final non-conference matchups of the year on December 19-20 when they take on Seattle Pacific and Northwest Nazarene in Nampa, Idaho.
