The No. 14 Colorado Mesa women's basketball team will be back out on the road this week after hosting their home opener last weekend as a part of the Maverick Thanksgiving Classic. They are set to take on the UCCS Mountain Lions and the Colorado Christian Cougars to open Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Mavericks hosted the annual Thanksgiving Classic after a two-year hiatus and swept the competition in grand fashion. They improved to 8-1 on the season and moved up a spot in the national rankings in doing so.
 
On Friday, the defeated Simon Fraser for the second time this season with an 81-52 win over the Red Leafs. Olivia Reed Thyne finished with 23 points and 14 rebounds while Mykaela Moore and Mason Rowland each finished in double figures with 18 and 16 points respectively.
 
On Saturday, they backed it up with a 92-53 win over Lone Star Conference newcomer Sul Ross State 92-53 to close out the Classic. Reed Thyne led all scorers with 26 points and nine rebounds while Mason Rowland finished with 17 points and freshman Hallie Clark had 13.
 
DEFENSE WINS GAMES
Two stats through the first nine games of the season that head coach Taylor Wagner will be extremely pleased with is scoring defense and field goal percentage defense which both go hand-in-hand.
 
The Mavericks are tops in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense. They are allowing opponents to score just 54 points per game and holding opponents to just under 32 percent from the field. Colorado Mesa has held opponents to less than 50 points three times and four times holding opponents to under 30 percent from the field.

DOUBLE DIP
Senior Olivia Reed Thyne did something this week that she has done only one other time in her career and that was being named the RMAC Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week in the same week. The Windsor, Colo. native accomplished that this week after her dominating performance in the Maverick Thanksgiving Classic against Simon Fraser and Sul Ross State.
 
She averaged 24.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, two steals and a block per game in the Mavericks 2-0 weekend at home in Brownson Arena. The senior had 26 points, nine rebounds, three assists and a block in the win over Sul Ross State. In that game, she did not see the floor in the fourth quarter.
 
Against Simon Fraser, Reed Thyne had 23 points, 14 rebounds, six assists, four steals and a blocked shot in nearly 34 minutes on the floor. During the game, she became the Mavericks all-time leader in made field goals which was 700 and now sits at 713.
 
This is the 13^th time in her career that she has earned RMAC Defensive Player of the Week honors and just the third time she was named the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week.

RECORD WATCHING
One more record down for senior Olivia Reed Thyne as she took the career made field goals record which now sits at 713. The senior claimed the record on Friday evening as she was 9-for-14 from the field. She will also set the record in fewer games than Stites did (110 games) as Reed Thyne will be playing in her 100^th game on Friday.
 
She is gaining on the career scoring mark that wont happen, likely, until the end of the season. The senior is currently 178 points away from the tying Tonya Stites' record of 1,920 points.
 
 
CAREER SCORING

1. Tonya Stites, 1,920
2. Olivia Reed Thyne, 1,742

 
CAREER FIELD GOALS

1. Olivia Reed Thyne, 713
2. Tonya Stites, 699

 
CAREER REBOUNDS

1. Olivia Reed Thyne, 1,066
2. Tonya Stites, 1,032

 
SCOUTING UCCS
The Mountain Lions were picked second in the RMAC preseason poll and look to be very formidable despite the 3-3 record. Looking deeper, UCCS has wins over UT Dallas, Western New Mexico and Central Oklahoma with losses coming to No. 3 Texas Woman's, No. 19 West Texas A&M and a one-point loss to No. 4 Fort Hays State.
 
The Mountain Lions are coached by Misty Wilson in her third season. Wilson came to UCCS after a successful stint at Tarleton State where she helped guide the TexAnns through the transition to Division I. She has an overall career record of 191-137 and led the Mountain Lions to the RMAC Tournament Title last season and the program's first trip to the NCAA Tournament since the 2016-17 season.
 
UCCS is led by a pair of standouts in Ayianna Johnson and Amyah Moore Allen who both have had double digit scoring in every game this season. Johnson is averaging 19.7 points and 6.8 rebounds per night including a season-high 26 in the loss to West Texas A&M. Moore Allen is averaging 17 points during the season and had 20 points, six rebounds and four steals in the loss to No. 3 Texas Woman's
 
SCOUTING COLORADO CHRISTIAN
The Cougars started off the season taking on two of the top teams in the Lone Star Conference and came away with a win over No. 20 UT Tyler 53-39 but fell the day before to No. 13 Lubbock Christian 63-53. They have lost four straight since the win over UT Tyler with in-region losses to St. Edward's and Texas A&M International.
 
The Cougars are led by Carissa Ratliff in her second season as she took over just prior to the 2024-25 season. Ratliff was a standout at Calvin University in Michigan where she scored 2,236 points, blocked 440 shots and pulled down 1,071 rebounds in her time which were all top-2 all-time at Calvin.
 
The scoring for the Cougars is spread out among three players who all average either 8.7 points or 8.8 points. Jordon Heckert is the one at 8.8 points per game and scored a season-high 13 in the win over UT Tyler. Ja'Shelle Johnson, a transfer from Texas Rio Grande Valley, scored 14 points in the Cougars loss to Lubbock Christian.
 
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, 302-91
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 return home for one final time in 2025 on December 13 when they host Colorado School of Mines at 1pm in Brownson Arena. Colorado Mesa will return home on Saturday January 3 to complete the Mines weekend with a matchup with Regis at 1pm.
 
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.