GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Don't get Taylor Wagner wrong — he's happy to be two games up in the loss column in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
He'll be happier if the Mavs still have that lead in four weeks.
"It's close," he said of the race at the top, with Adams State 1½ games back after winning Tuesday night and three more teams two games behind the Mavericks. "Every game's big and it's great we have a two-game lead, but we've we've got to make sure we do our best and even get a little bit tougher and be better prepared. It's just going to be razor-thin when it comes down to it, so we've just got to take care of our home court this week and make sure we go out and play well."
MSU Denver, which is currently on the outside looking in at the eight-team RMAC Tournament field, but by only one game, comes to Brownson Arena at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, with Regis, locked in a three-way tie for the 7-8-9 spot, in town at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Thursday's game is Retail Appreciation Night.
"Well, Metro, I mean, Tanya (Haave) is a great coach. She gets them to play hard against us. They're usually tough and physical, and that's what we expect," Wagner said. "And you know that Regis has always been a good team. They have great players, and everyone's kind of fighting for their spots, and they're in the mix of it, so we expect their best."
The Mavericks are the hottest team in the RMAC, riding an eight-game winning streak — they're undefeated in 2025 — and have had great offensive balance among the starting five, which has made them hard to guard. Wagner knows there's more there, though, especially from the reserves.
"We've got to continue to do what we're doing. But we were talking about it (Tuesday and Monday) in practice, someone's got to step up," he said. "There's going to be a game where someone coming off the bench has got to have a big game, and so everyone's got to be locked in. It just can't be one, two, three players every single game. Teams are going to really strategize and try and take away our strengths, so everyone's got to be ready to put the ball in the hole."
SWEEPING ON THE ROAD
Going 4-0 in back-to-back weekends on the road is no easy feat in the RMAC, but the Mavericks pulled it off to move into sole possession of the conference lead.
So how did the Mavs win those four games and run their season-long winning streak to eight? Defense and rebounding
"I liked our grit. You know, I thought the things that we kind of emphasized all week in practice, I thought they went out and did defensively," CMU coach Taylor Wagner said. "We stepped up, but we played better defense in all four games so that was kind of, I think the difference in all those ballgames."
The Mavericks held Black Hills State to 25.9 percent shooting in its own gym, and over the four games, the defense held opponents to 34.7 percent shooting, while shooting 40.8 percent themselves. They out-rebounded the four teams by nearly 30.
TOE THE LINE
Free-throw shooting doesn't get overlooked by the Mavericks, and the past four games show why: CMU made 64 free throws in those four road games, only two fewer than their opponents attempted combined. The Mavs made 73.5 percent of their attempts, 64 of 87, while their opponents shot 57.5 percent, 38 of 66.
"We shoot a lot of free throws," Wagner said how practice drills pay dividends on game days. "And they work on their own, that's the good thing. They put a lot of preparation and they're willing to put in the extra work."
Olivia Reed Thyne went 19-21 in the past three games — she didn't get to the line against Black Hills State — Mykaela Moore was 13 of 19, Riley Hayes 8 of 11, Brooklyn Palmer 7 of 9 and Kylie Kravig 12 of 15.
They're getting to the line more during this eight-game winning streak because they're attacking the basket more from the perimeter — Moore is a slasher from the wing, and Kravig scores most of her points on drives to the basket. Hayes, the top 3-point shooter in the RMAC, has also begun to attack the basket more as teams try to run her off the 3-point line, so she's also drawing more fouls.
The Mavs not only expect to make free throws during games, but in every drill, not only the block of time set aside to shoot free throws. For example, working on their press attack doesn't start with an inbounds pass; it begins with the teams lining up and shooting a free throw before the offense takes the ball out on the baseline. And if the free throw's missed, it's shot again.
On the season, the Mavericks are shooting 77.4 percent from the line, third-best in the conference, with their opponents shooting 64.6 percent.
IN THE POLLS
With four weeks left in the regular season, the Mavericks are No. 4 in the D2CSC South Central Region rankings and are just outside of the top 25 in the D2CSC national rankings, receiving 17 votes, just behind No. 25 Alaska Anchorage. CMU is not receiving votes in the WBCA rankings.
The official NCAA regional rankings are released the final three weeks of the season, starting with a 10-team "under consideration" list. Eight teams, including the tournament champions from the RMAC and Lone Star conferences, receive bids to the regional playoffs.
SCOUTING THE ROADRUNNERS
MSU Denver has struggled with consistency this season, shooting just 38.6 percent from the field, while allowing opponents to shoot 42.5 percent.
The Roadrunners had a solid three-game winning streak in mid-January, knocking off Colorado Christian, CU-Colorado Springs and Regis, but are on a three-game losing streak entering Thursday's game, falling at Colorado School of Mines before dropping back-to-back home games to New Mexico Highlands and Fort Lewis.
Mikylah Espinosa, a 5-foot-8 junior guard, averages 14.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and has 66 steals to lead MSU Denver, with Nevaeh Millard, a 5-8 freshman guard, adding 10.4 points per game.
The Roadrunners are being out-rebounded by 7.4 boards per game, and turn the ball over an average of 16.5 times, leading to 16 points per game for opponents. They are pesky defensively, with 10.5 steals per game, and force teams to turn the ball over 17.6 times per game.
SCOUTING THE RANGERS
Regis held off the Mavericks 63-61 in December on a pair of free throws with one second left by Fiona Snashall. Since that game, however, the defending tournament champion Rangers have gone 3-7 and are fighting with Colorado School of Mines for the No. 8 spot in the conference standings.
Erin Fry, a 5-10 grad student, is one of the premier guards in the RMAC, averaging 18.1 points and 6 assists per game. Athena Saragoza, a 5-8 senior guard, is another threat, scoring 17.5 points, and averages three made 3-pointers per game. Snashall, a 6-2 sophomore forward, adds another 10 points a game.
Regis shoots nearly 38 percent from the field, but teams shoot 42.5 percent against them, the biggest discrepancy in overall stats. The Rangers are being outscored by less than two points per game.
DYK?
The coaches this weekend at Brownson are three of the four longest-tenured in the RMAC. Tanya Haave is in her 15th season at MSU Denver, Taylor Wagner is in his 13th season at Colorado Mesa and Molly Marrin is coaching in her 10th season at Regis. Brittany Simpson is also in her 13th season at Colorado School of Mines. No other RMAC women's basketball coach has been in their current position for more than six years.
