It was a fun night at Brownson if you are a fan of stellar defense and blocks.
Stat of the night: Kelsey Siemons had more than twice as many blocks (7) as she did points (2). That sums up Friday pretty well for the Colorado Mesa University women’s basketball team as they defeated Western Colorado University 44-36 in a defensive showcase.
The top two defenses in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference squared off in the last game of 2019 and the Mavericks celebrated with a water bottle fight in the locker room afterwards.
“Coming into this week of practice we were like ‘okay we can’t overlook them at all,’ we know what they’re capable of,” CMU guard Dani Turner said. “But at the same time…we’re still the better team so we kind of knew we were gonna win but we just needed to let our game prove that.”
Siemons closed the game out blocking Western guard Samantha Coleman’s three-point attempt. It was a fantastic way to capitalize the seven-block night that is a season-high for the senior.
“In our game last year I had six blocks so I don’t what about [Western] but I just get really pumped up to play them,” Siemons said, “Tori [Catlett] and I always say ‘protect the paint..it’s ours.’ I always tell the guards that they don’t have to worry about exposing yourself on screens because I have their help.”
Both teams were cold as the December snow in the first quarter as both squads shot 15 percent or worse from the field to add up to ten total points. Both CMU and Western are the top two defenses in the RMAC and it showed on the floor. The Mountaineers forced nine turnovers while turning the ball over ten times themselves before halftime.
“It went the way I thought it was gonna go,” Head coach Taylor Wagner said. “Both teams played phonomenal defensively and every play someone is fighting as hard as they could. Luckily we made a few more plays than them.”
CMU came into the night as the best defensive scoring team in the entire country allowing only 46.8 ppg.
Dani Turner, who came into the night averaging a team high 15.5 points and finally started to pick up steam in the second quarter where the junior racked up nine points, the most out of any player in the entire first half.
“We got going and Dani hit some shots in the second half and just kinda opened it up,” Wagner said. “It was good that she was on because it seemed like looking at everything else, no one was really on.”
It was unusual to see the Mavericks not scoring more than 30 in the first half considering they average 66.8 points per game which is the fourth best in the conference. However, it made sense considering Western allows only 53.5 points per game which is second only to CMU.
“At the beginning when things weren’t falling for us we were like ‘Oh my gosh just go in, like rim give some leeway,” Turner said. “When we force things we know that they just tend to go the opposite way and when we let our game take over then things start going really well for us.”
The three-point shooting was not good from either team. Western made one in the first quarter but then went 0-6 in the second. CMU went 0-8 in the first quarter and ended the night shooting 2-19 from beyond the arc.
Dani Turner was the ignition and the solo driver for the CMU offense for the rest of the game as the Boca Raton native scored 13 points in the second half to lead her to a game high 22 total points. Turner also had the only two three pointers for the Mavericks. The offense went 0-11 before Turner was able to finally dish one out off a corner bank-shot in the third quarter.
CMU’s defense was the difference maker in the second half, allowing the Mountaineers to shoot only 30 percent from the field. The Mavericks also ended the night with 10 steals led by Sydni Brandon (2) who added to her season total which now stands at 37 on the season which is am RMAC best.
The Mavericks end 2019 on a seven-game winning streak after starting the year 2-2. The win against Western keeps them undefeated in RMAC play and undefeated at Brownson Arena as well. Their first game of 2020 will take place at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology on Jan. 3.
