The No. 4 Colorado Mesa women's basketball team will hit the road for the first time in more than three weeks to begin the month of February. They will travel to the Front Range to take on MSU Denver on Thursday at 5:30pm before taking on Regis in a matinee tilt on Saturday at 1:00pm.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Mavericks closed out their five-game home stand with a sweep of both CSU Pueblo and UCCS in Brownson Arena. The two wins move the Mavericks win streak to 19 games and they maintain their one-game (plus the tiebreaker) lead over Adams State in the RMAC Standings.
 
After a slow start in the matchup with CSU Pueblo, the Mavericks put the pedal to the floor in the second quarter on their way to a 71-46 win over the ThunderWolves. Colorado Mesa outscored CSU Pueblo 30-10 in the second quarter including a 12-0 run at one point. Mason Rowland finished with a game-high 23 points while Olivia Reed Thyne had a 22 and 10 double-double.
 
Colorado Mesa finished the season sweep of UCCS on Saturday with a 79-61 win over the Mountain Lions to atone for their 2025 RMAC Tournament Championship game loss in Brownson Arena (last home loss at home). Five players scored in double figures with Brooke Eyre going 5-for-5 from the field including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc for a career-high 13 points off the bench.

BENCH PLAY
As per previous seasons, head coach Taylor Wagner typically winds up playing seven players late in the season. With timeouts, media timeouts, and other stoppages, the plan usually works and he may have deployed that tactic on Saturday in the Mavericks win over UCCS.
 
Colorado Mesa played seven players in the win over the Mountain Lions and the minutes were spread out throughout those seven. The fewest minutes anyone played was 25 minutes by Hallie Clark and the most anyone played was 36 minutes by Mykaela Moore.
 
Brooke Eyre had a career day off the bench for the Mavericks. The Provo, Utah native went 5-for-5 from the field including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc for a career-high 13 points. She also added four rebounds, four assists, and a block in the win.  

THE DEAN OF THE RMAC
Colorado Mesa head coach Taylor Wagner not only surpassed 300 wins in his career this season, but he became the RMAC's all-time wins leader within the conference. Wagner passed legendary Regis Head Coach Linda Raunig for career RMAC wins when he passed her 226 RMAC wins on January 10 with the 89-49 win over Adams State in Alamosa.
 
Below are a pair of lists detailing where Wagner sits in the hierarchy of RMAC women's basketball coaches:
 
Career RMAC Wins

1. Taylor Wagner, Colorado Mesa, 2012-current, 234
2. Linda Raunig, Regis, 1996-2015, 226
3. Tanya Haave, MSU Denver, 2010-25, 213
4. Steve Kirkham, Colorado Mesa/UCCS, 1988-04, 10, 179
5. Kip Drown, CSU Pueblo, 2005-15, 141

Career Wins while in the RMAC

1. Linda Raunig, Regis, 1996-15, 323
2. Taylor Wagner, Colorado Mesa, 2012-current, 316
3. Steve Kirkham, Colorado Mesa/UCCS, 1988-04,10, 305
4. Tanya Haave, MSU Denver, 2010-25, 288
5. Brittany Simpson, Colorado School of Mines, 2012-current, 249

TO THE TOP
One of the final record Olivia Reed Thyne was in the hunt for fell this weekend as she eclipsed 2,000 points in her career and became the RMAC All-Time leading scorer all in one game. The Windsor, Colo. native eclipsed the 2,000-point milestone in the third quarter with 1:45 left on a layup with an and-1 to make it 45-33.
 
The RMAC record-breaking point came in the in the fourth quarter on a free-throw with 8:55 to play in the game which put Reed Thyne at 2,003 total points in her career. She became the first women's basketball player with 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in her career which has been spent entirely in the RMAC.
 
Olivia moved up one spot on the Centennial State list and now ranks seventh all-time in collegiate scorers in Colorado. The list is headed by the legendary Becky Hammon who had 2,740 points for the Rams of Colorado State in the late 90s.
 
COLORADO ALL-TIME SCORING LIST

1. Becky Hammon, Colorado State, 1995-99, 2,740
2. Alisha Little, CSU Pueblo/Northern Colorado, 2019-25
3. Brittany Spear, Colorado, 2007-11, 2,185
4. McKenna Hofschild, Colorado State, 2020-24, 2,162
5. Loma Kollmeyer, Colorado College, 1976-80, 2,109
6. Lisa VanGoor, Colorado, 1980-85, 2,067
7. Olivia Reed Thyne, Colorado Mesa, 2022-present, 2,048
8. Savannah Smith, Northern Colorado, 2014-19, 2,013

A new list to look at is the active career points leaders in all of NCAA.
 
ACTIVE NCAA DIVISION II SCORING LEADERS

1. Natalie Bremer, Minnesota State, 2,145
2. Emma Miller, Minnesota-Crookston, 2,091
3. Olivia Reed Thyne, Colorado Mesa, 2,048
4. Asher Cai, Central Washington, 2,029

SCOUTING MSU DENVER
The Roadrunners started off on a wrong foot under longtime head coach Lynn Kennedy who is in his first year at MSU Denver. Since the turn of the new year, the Roadrunners have been playing better and even better as of late as they are riding a four-game winning streak into this week's matchups.
 
During their four-game winning streak, they completed the season sweep of Fort Lewis and earned solid wins over Colorado School of Mines and New Mexico Highlands.
 
Mikylah Espinosa is one of the best scorers in the RMAC from inside and out. The reigning RMAC Player of the Week is averaging 18 points and makes 32 percent of her three-point attempts. She averaged 30 points per game last weekend including a 36-point effort in the Roadrunners win over New Mexico Highlands.
 
SCOUTING REGIS
The Rangers have had a tough year after a senior heavy class a year ago and will come into the week with an 0-15 overall record and 0-12 in the conference. They have played a pair of close games in their last five falling to CSU Pueblo in overtime and a single digit loss to Highlands last weekend.
 
They have a pair of nice players in Kate Gallery and Jessica Bollwahn. Gallery leads the team in scoring with 17.6 per game while Bollwahn is nearly averaging a double-double at 10.7 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.
 
In the first meeting this year, Colorado Mesa came away with a 72-44 win over the Rangers in the first game of the new year. Olivia Reed Thyne led all scorers with 21 points while Mason Rowland finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Colorado Mesa was able to force 25 turnovers that led to 37 points.

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, 316-91
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
The Mavericks will return home after their trip to the front range for a pair of games in Brownson Arena. They are set to host the Fort Lewis Skyhawks on Thursday February 12 before a Valentine's Day matchup with the New Mexico Highlands on Saturday February 14. Stay tuned for some Valentine's Day specials.