GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Other than the final score, Taylor Wagner looks at one number on the stat sheet.
Opponents' field goal percentage.
"The stat I look at is … it says 29 field goal percentage, that's what I look at," the Colorado Mesa women's basketball coach said. "Rather than the steals and everything like that, we want them taking tough shots and and I think that wins a lot more ballgames, because you can be really aggressive and give up a lot of layups. I kind of like the other philosophy of just making it tough on them, and the further they shoot it away from the basket, the percentage goes down."
The No. 24 Mavericks did their job on the defensive end of the floor, especially in the first half Thursday in a 73-44 victory over South Dakota Mines, securing a first-round home game in the upcoming RMAC Tournament.
Colorado Mesa won its 13th straight game and reached the 20-win mark to maintain a two-game lead on Western Colorado atop the conference standings by holding the Hardrockers to 29.6 percent shooting in the game and only 20 percent in the first half.
"We were focused that first half. The defense, I thought, was on point. We did a phenomenal job," Wagner said. "The girls were fulfilling their assignments that they needed to do and and we were making them take tough shots."
With the Mavs (20-4, 15-2 RMAC) locking down on defense, the offense flowed. CMU shot 66.7 percent in the first quarter and 46.4 percent in the first half to take a commanding 41-16 halftime lead.
"I thought they were physical with this, but you know, them missing shots gets us in a great flow and then we were able to get some early things, where we don't have to set up in a play," Wagner said.
Olivia Reed Thyne recorded her 16th double-double of the season despite being under the weather, with 23 points and 12 rebounds. She also drew the defensive assignment against the 'Rockers' top post scorer, Morning Grace Spotted Bear, who came in averaging 13.5 points a game. She went 2 for 10 from the field and finished with five points, with 11 rebounds.
"We talked about she's a great player and a really great offensive player," Reed Thyne said. "So this week in practice, we just talked about the best way to guard her is to not let her catch. Especially in that first half, I really just tried to focus on doing my best to not let her catch, and then when she caught, focusing on not letting her do exactly what she wants to do."
Mykaela Moore and Kylie Kravig scored 14 points each and Riley Hayes added 10.
As a team, the Mavericks came up with 11 steals, tied for a season high. Kravig had three of those steals. Colorado Mesa's defense doesn't lend itself to steals, because the Mavericks don't rely on full-court pressure, instead playing tough man-to-man defense and challenging shots.
"I think a lot of our steals came from helping in the post. They have some really great post players that are good with their back to the basket, but they also like to dribble," Kravig said, "so I think a lot of our steals came from just helping down there, and then sometimes there were mismatches, and we were just helping whoever the guard was that was on the post and ended up coming up with the steal."
South Dakota Mines (6-18, 6-11) turned the ball over 20 times, leading to 17 CMU points, and 14 points in transition.
The Mavericks led from the start, with Reed Thyne working through early double-teams to find her teammates cutting to the basket, which in turn opened her up to score. Colorado Mesa outscored South Dakota Mines 34-16 in the paint, with the guards aggressively attacking the basket.
A 10-0 run in the second quarter opened up a 29-10 lead and from there, the lead grew to as many as 30 points midway through the third quarter when Kravig converted a driving layup off a steal by Moore.
Wagner went to the bench late in the third quarter to give the starters a much-needed break until the eight-minute mark of the fourth.
The reserves came back in to put the game away, contributing 12 points, with seven coming from Macy Larsen, who buried a deep 3-pointer just before the horn to end the first quarter.
With the home playoff game secured, the Mavericks can clinch a tie for the RMAC championship on Saturday with a victory over third-place Black Hills State. Tipoff is at 1 p.m. at Brownson Arena.
