Colorado Mesa University Athletics

HONOLULU, Hawaii - Mason Rowland scored 28 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in all 40 minutes and Colorado Mesa answered a St. Mary's third-quarter comeback to beat the Rattlers 62-53 on Saturday (Oct. 31) evening at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletic Center in the semifinals of the Outrigger Hotels Hoops in Hawaii Tip-off Classic.
 
It was Rowland's second straight double-double and Tamryn Blom added six points and a game-high 15 rebounds, six of them offensive end. The 15 rebounds for Blom was a career-high.
 
The Mavericks couldn't have started much better. Jenna Krise opened the scoring and Colorado Mesa ran off the game's first 17 points before St. Mary's got on the board with a free throw midway through the first quarter. A Sedonia Isenbart three-point play made it 20-1, and the Rattlers shot just 2-of-17 in the period as the Mavericks led 21-7 after one.
 
St. Mary's found its range in the second quarter, hitting three straight 3-pointers during a 9-0 run, but Colorado Mesa still took a 34-24 lead into halftime.
 
The Rattlers' shooting caught fire after the break. Trailing 38-24, St. Mary's went 5-of-8 from deep in the third quarter, and Allie Garcia's third 3-pointer of the period beat the buzzer to tie it 43-43 heading into the fourth.
 
Elizabeth Griffin's layup gave St. Mary's its first lead of the night to open the final quarter, but it didn't last. Rowland buried a 3-pointer off a Blom offensive rebound to put the Mavericks back in front for good and Colorado Mesa's defense held the Rattlers without a field goal for more than six minutes. Isenbart's layup, two Krise free throws and a Rowland pull-up jumper stretched the lead to 52-45.
 
Rowland closed it out at the line, scoring 13 points in the fourth quarter, including 8-of-10 free throws in the final 70 seconds. The Mavericks went 21-of-27 from the line for the game compared to 3-of-6 for St. Mary's.
 
Krise and Isenbart each added eight points for Colorado Mesa and Hallie Clark chipped in six with a pair of steals.
 
Garcia led the Rattlers with 19 points on 4-of-7 shooting from 3-point range, and Raynne Malik added nine points and eight rebounds.
 
The Mavericks move into the Championship game and await the winner of the final match of the day between Hawaii Pacific and Winona State. Tip for tomorrow's game is slated for 10:00 PM MST (7:00 PM HT).