GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Colorado Mesa women's basketball coach Taylor Wagner talked all week about the need for the bench to assert itself down the stretch.

Enter Lauryn Deede. The senior forward came off the bench for the final 2:40 of the first quarter to give Olivia Reed Thyne a breather, more than held her own inside against MSU Denver's big front line, and earned more than 17 ½ minutes of court time Thursday in the Mavericks' 72-44 runaway victory, their ninth straight. CMU improved to 16-4, 11-2 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, and is undefeated in 2025.

"Coach has been talking this week that we need people to step up, and I took it," Deede said. "Liv is one of the best posts, if not the best in the RMAC, so it makes anyone better just guarding her in practice and just being able to transfer it over to the games."

Deede scored four points, had one assist and pulled down six rebounds in what ended up being a game dominated by the guards.

"I didn't know it would be all guards or anything like that, we just knew people had to step up," Wagner said. "And the two girls here, Lauryn did a phenomenal job, Riley (Hayes) did a great job. You know, we needed a spark and, and they brought it for us."

Hayes provided much of the offense, and plenty of defense, hitting a half-dozen 3-pointers and scoring 24 points. She also had two assists and four steals, hitting the floor for loose balls and stepping into passing lanes.

"I think just coming out hitting the first few shots was kind of nice, and then getting to the free throw line helps a lot, you know, if they're gonna foul," Hayes said. "If my 3s aren't hitting, then mixing it up and switching back and forth, so, yeah, it was good."

Mykaela Moore added 10 points, Reed Thyne had 12, taking the entire fourth quarter off, and Kylie Kravig nine, with seven rebounds and eight assists.

With Reed Thyne and Brooklyn Palmer working to find space inside against Brianna Sealy, a long 5-11 forward, and Amanda Byrnes, a 6-3 sophomore, the guards not only hit outside shots, but they drove the lane to try to loosen up the posts.

And when the Roadrunners (6-15, 5-8) collapsed the defense around Reed Thyne when she got the ball on the low block, the guards cut through or found space to give her an outlet.

Deede hit a jumper with about one minute to play in the second quarter and Reed Thyne followed with a short jumper just before the shot clock ran out with 15 seconds left in the half, shrugging her shoulders as she ran back on defense with the Mavs up 41-24.

And they didn't let down, using an 11-1 scoring run to the third quarter and allow the reserves to play the fourth quarter.

"I mean, there was 20 more minutes of the game, and, you know, we've been here where we've come out and had a good lead, and then the third quarter, we kind of laid an egg," Wagner said of his halftime talk. "I thought they did a good job and were locked in the whole time. We got a lot of girls in and, you talked about Lauryn, and her leadership is phenomenal. She played a lot of minutes, played great defense, was a great rebounder, and and when we needed her to step up, she did a great job. And I think the girls followed that lead."

With MSU Denver's defense pushing out on ball handlers, the Mavs went deep into the shot clock several times. The clincher came with 1:37 left in the third quarter. Reed Thyne had the ball just outside the lane, threw it out to Hayes with about 3 seconds left on the shot clock. As her defender rushed her, Hayes did a quick sidestep and fired up a no-doubt 3 to put the Mavericks up 30.

Reed Thyne threw her arms in the air and roared her approval before heading to the bench for the rest of the night.

Moore also had an athletic play in the third quarter, slicing inside on a missed 3 by Hayes. Her first volleyball-style tip-in bounced off the rim, but her second tip went in for a 56-34 advantage.

"All the girls have done a good job, and we say, take your shot. We hit a couple there at the end (of the shot clock) and we just need to continue to do that," Wagner said. "It's not a one-person game, I think they all hit big shots. We've just got to continue to share the basketball and make it a little bit more difficult."

Colorado Mesa, which maintained its two-game lead atop the RMAC standings ahead of Western Colorado, Black Hills State and Adams State, shot nearly 48 percent from the field, made 19 of 21 free throws to MSU Denver's 5 of 11 and 37.5 percent shooting.

Reed Thyne and Palmer had six rebounds apiece to help the Mavericks control the boards 34-21, and CMU had 18 assists on 22 made baskets.

Colorado Mesa now turns its attention to Regis, which comes in Saturday afternoon. The Rangers downed CMU by two points earlier this season in Denver.

"It only gets tougher, and Regis is a great team," Wagner said. "They're going to be prepared for us, and it'll be a battle on Saturday."