GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — After a couple of trips down the floor Tuesday night, the Colorado Mesa women's basketball team had figured out how New Mexico Highlands was playing its zone defense.
That long list of half-court sets in coach Taylor Wagner's pocket had the right plays, and the Mavericks' shooters busted the zone from the perimeter and ran away with a 72-46 victory in the quarterfinals of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament at Brownson Arena.
"They came out in that zone and it took us a few minutes to kind of figure that out," Wagner said. "And then I thought we settled down a little bit better on the offensive side and hit some shots.
"They kind of went to the perimeter and started guarding that, and then we went in to Liv (Olivia Reed Thyne), and she had a whole bunch of points down there. I felt like we shared the ball. What I told the girls, it's just a different feel. We're used to quick hitters and moving the ball and cutting and everything. And when they play zone, you're standing a little bit more and you rely on the perimeter shot maybe a little bit more than normal, and just comes differently. So it's a different feel to play and probably watch, but we got the same result."
The Mavericks made five 3-pointers in the first quarter and 10 in the game, with their center, Brooklyn Palmer, hitting three of five and point guard Kylie Kravig four of five.
"I think it's always good to see your first one go. I think it's like a breath of fresh air," Palmer said. "But I think it helps open up the floor a little bit, just because if anyone's hitting shots, like today, Riley was, I was, Kylie was, and so it helps open up the post. So it's hard to double, you have people surrounding Liv, too, because you know that they're gonna be out there hitting shots. And I think Liv does a good job getting it in and if she's doubled, she kicks out, and it's important that we can do our part to knock down those shots."
The zone was allowing the Cowgirls (13-14) to collapse in the paint around Reed Thyne, but once the Mavs started hitting from the perimeter, the paint opened up and Reed Thyne went to work.
She had a double-double, her 18th of the season, by halftime, with 16 points and 12 rebounds, and finished with 22 points and 17 boards.
When the defense did swarm her, she found her teammates and had four assists, and added one steal and one blocked shot.
"I feel like every team does it a little bit different. I know the first time we played them, they weren't doubling, so I don't think I expected it, especially in the beginning of the game, but Coach P (Hannah Pollart) just talked to me and just told me to wait a second, just keep my elbows up, and I probably could have done a little bit of a better job."
Palmer finished with 15 points and five boards, three steals, four assists and one block. Kravig was two assists short of a double-double herself, with 12 points and eight assists as the Mavericks (22-4) won their 17th straight game and ended a two-year drought in the conference tournament.
The top-seeded Mavericks, ranked No. 21 in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association rankings and No. 22 in the D2CSC poll, will host the semifinals and championship games this weekend. Colorado Mesa plays Black Hills State at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, with CU-Colorado Springs facing Western Colorado at 7:30 p.m. The championship game is at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Black Hills claimed an 82-52 win over CSU Pueblo and Western Colorado handled Regis 67-51.
Riley Hayes hit the first 3 of the game for the Mavericks, and CMU handled the full-court pressure from the Cowgirls, which led to 1-on-1 opportunities for Reed Thyne in the paint instead of facing a triple-team.
An 8-0 run over a 61-second span in the first quarter helped the Mavericks build a 22-9 advantage, and they were up 40-22 at the half.
A 22-12 third quarter pushed CMU's lead to 28 points, 62-34, entering the final 10 minutes.
Reed Thyne and Palmer have formed a strong 1-2 combination in the paint, and they showed that midway through the third quarter when Reed Thyne got the ball in the high post and dropped a no-look pass to a cutting Palmer for a layup.
CMU's senior center pushed the lead to 21 points with a tip-in about 90 seconds later.
Defensively, the Mavericks continued to clamp down on opponents, holding the Cowgirls to 33 percent shooting and only 25 percent from the 3-point line (2 of 8). They had 10 steals, with Hayes matching Palmer's thefts with three to trigger the offense.
And offensively, CMU, which leads the RMAC in assists and is No. 1 in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio, shared the ball as well as it has all season, with 26 assists on 28 made baskets.
The lessons the Mavs took from last season's first-round playoff loss served them well.
"I think it's big," Reed Thyne said. "Last year was rough, to say the least. And I think everyone who was here just kind of had that in the back of their mind, and kind of had that experience and understanding that you need to come out (ready to play)."
