The No. 11 Colorado Mesa women's basketball team heads into the weekend riding an eight-game winning streak and will take on their final non-conference foes in Seattle Pacific and host Northwest Nazarene.   
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Mavericks hosted Colorado School of Mines in their first conference game at home last Saturday afternoon. Colorado Mesa got 72 points out of Olivia Reed Thyne, Mason Rowland and Mykaela Moore in an 86-47 win over the Orediggers.
 
Moore had a career-game with her first ever 20-plus point game and added a career-high 10 rebounds for her first double double. Reed Thyne scored a season-high 28 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for her fifth double double of the season while Mason Rowland had 23 points and handed out six assists.
 
The Mavericks shot 52.2 percent from the field and held Mines to just 26.9 percent from the floor.
 
KEEP PLAYING DEFENSE
Colorado Mesa continues to be amongst the nation's best on defense in the two important categories, scoring defense and field goal percent defense. After holding Colorado School of Mines under 27 percent from the floor, the Mavericks are up to No. 3 in the country in field goal percent defense at 31.5 percent for the year and trail national leader Gannon by 1.4 percent.
 
The Mavericks also moved up to No. 10 in the country in scoring defense as they are allowing just 52 points per game. They are on a streak of eight straight games of allowing 55 points or less and will look to continue that against their final two non-conference foes.
 
MORE, MORE, MOORE
Senior Mykaela Moore is working on turning the two-headed scoring monster into a three headed monster after her play against Colorado School of Mines. She is averaging 8.8 points per game and the trio of Moore, Olivia Reed Thyne, and Mason Rowland account for 57 percent of the total scoring for the team.
 
The other piece Moore has been good at is taking care of the ball as she is one of the nation's best in assist-to-turnover nation. She ranks No. 13 in the category at 2.53 assists per turnover.

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 115 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, 1,805
 
SCOUTING NORTHWEST NAZARENE
The Nighthawks have opened the season with a 4-3 record sweeping the GNAC-CCAA Crossover against Cal Poly Humboldt and Cal State East Bay in Arcata, Calif. They also had a narrow win over Westmont at home on November 21 and a win over Cal State San Marcos in the Sea Lions Thanksgiving Classic at Point Loma.
 
Chloe Deharo and Trinidie Nichols lead the Nighthawks in scoring at 13.0 and 12.6 points per game respectively. Deharo had a big game in her season debut against Cal Poly Humboldt, pouring in 22 points while Nichols had 21 points in the win over Cal State San Marcos.
 
Kendall Clark made her debut last week against Central Washington and scored 14 points against the nationally ranked Wildcats.
 
The Mavericks have yet to beat Northwest Nazarene in two tries both coming in a neutral venue. The most recent matchup came on November 23, 2019 when Colorado Mesa fell 56-52 to the Nighthawks in St. George, Utah.


SCOUTING SEATTLE PACIFIC
The Falcons are off to a roller coaster start to the season as they defeated nationally ranked Cal State Dominguez Hills early in the season before losing three straight games before a win over Palm Beach Atlantic in Florida. After dropping two games in the GNAC opening weekend to Simon Fraser and Western Washington, they put together four solid quarters against George Fox in a 69-50 win last Wednesday.
 
Layne Kearns and Grace Turley lead the Falcons as double-digit points scorers. Kearns averages 11.8 points per game and has double-digit points in her last three games while Turley drops 11.2 points per game and had a season-high 18 in the season opener against Cal State LA.
 
This will be the first meeting between Colorado Mesa and Seattle Pacific.

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, 305-91
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 go on their mandated NCAA break and will return to action on Saturday January 3 when they host Regis at 1pm in Brownson Arena.