The No. 10 Colorado Mesa women's basketball continues their stretch of four games in eight days this week with split home and away week. They will travel to Gunnison to take on the Western Colorado Mountaineers on Tuesday before opening a five-game home stand on Thursday with a matchup against the Westminster Griffins.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Mavericks played a tale of two games in a pair of road games last week. On Thursday, Olivia Reed Thyne's free-throw with 0.6 on the clock gave the Mavericks a 69-68 win over New Mexico Highlands in Las Vegas, N.M. before a 40-point blowout on Saturday in Alamosa against second-place Adams State 89-49.
 
Reed Thyne finished with 35 points and 17 rebounds in the win over New Mexico Highlands while Tamryn Blom scored 11 points as the only Mavericks in double figures. In the next game, Cayden King led five Mavericks in double figures with a career-high 24 points. Mykaela Moore finished with 21, Reed Thyne 13, Hallie Clark 11, and Mason Rowland 10 to round out the Mavericks in double figures.

STEPPING UP
After a tough hard-fought game on Thursday against New Mexico Highlands, the Mavericks had to bounce back and be ready for a tough battle with the second-best team in the RMAC in Adams State.
 
The two scoring leaders for the Mavericks, Olivia Reed Thyne and Mason Rowland, were in foul trouble early and the Mavericks needed to maintain their early lead against the Grizzlies. Mykaela Moore and Cayden King answered the bell.
 
Moore tied her career-high with 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field while her teammate Cayden King set a career-high with 24 points on 8-for-11 shooting including four made three-pointers.

RECORDS ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN & OTHERS WITHIN REACH
Senior Olivia Reed Thyne broke one of the longest standing women's basketball program records in Saturday's win over Adams State. With 9:27 to play in the third quarter, Reed Thyne made a layup which gave her 1,921 points in her career breaking the program's all-time scoring record. The record was previously held by Tonya Stites who starred for the Mavericks in the early 1990s.
 
COLORADO MESA CAREER SCORING

1. Olivia Reed Thyne, 1,925 (2022-present)
2. Tonya Stites, 1,920 (1990-94)
3. Brittany Fowler 1,594 (2004-08)
4. Sharaya Selsor 1,494 (2009-11,12-14)
5. Jaime White 1,491 (1995-99)

 
Reed Thyne also set the mark one game sooner than Stites as she broke the record in 109 games played.
 
The Windsor, Colo. native is now nearing a pair of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference records. Reed Thyne is now just one rebound from tying the RMAC All-Time Rebounds record and two away from breaking the record.
 
RMAC CAREER REBOUNDS

1. Nicole Allman (New Mexico Highlands, 1994-98), 1,154
2. Olivia Reed Thyne (Colorado Mesa, 2022-present), 1,153

 
The next milestone and record that could happen in the coming weeks is reaching the 2,000 points mark. If she reaches that mark, she will become just the second player in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference history to reach that milestone. The all-time record for scoring in the RMAC is 2,002 set by Becky Gonzalez from 1998-02.
 
RMAC CAREER SCORING

1. Becky Gonzalez (New Mexico Highlands, 1998-02), 2,002
2. Olivia Reed Thyne (Colorado Mesa, 2022-present), 1,925

 
SCOUTING WESTERN COLORADO
The Mountaineers are an even 6-6 on the season but are off to a 4-2 start in the conference. They split last weekend with a win over Fort Lewis and an 11-point loss to New Mexico Highlands. Their best win of the season may have come in their season opener where they had a 16-point win over Angelo State.
 
Mountaineer guard Ivey Schmidt is one of the top players in the RMAC as she averages 19.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game this season. She has scored 20 points or more in six of her last seven games including a season-high 26 against MSU Denver on December 11.
 
SCOUTING WESTMINSTER
The Griffins are 3-9 on the season and have three wins over teams the Mavericks have defeated as well in Alaska Fairbanks, Texas A&M-Kingsville and Seattle Pacific. They have had rough start to the RMAC schedule with an 0-6 record including a pair of losses last week to Fort Lewis and Adams State.
 
Teuila Nawahine leads the Griffins in scoring at 12.6 points per game. She had a season-high 27 points in Westminster's early season loss to Concordia University Irvine back on November 15.
 
Teammate Emily Evans leads the team in rebounds at 7.0 per game.

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, 310-91
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
Colorado Mesa will continue their five-game home stand next weekend as they host Black Hills State and Chadron State in Brownson Arena on Thursday and Saturday as a part of Welcome Back Weekend.