13-straight wins and this “gauntlet” that the Colorado Mesa University women’s basketball team is in right now is starting to hit its bulkiest bunch of the season.
Injuries are starting to become more of a reality and the daily grind gets a little bit longer, however, the Mavericks continued to prevail this weekend as they downed both Adams State and Fort Lewis to remain undefeated at home.
Two wins at Brownson on both Friday and Saturday bring CMU to a perfect 6-0 to start 2020. Adams State showed some toughness in part to the injuries Taylor Wagner’s squad has been faced with on Friday, then the 38-35 win over Fort Lewis on Saturday, proved that a number one-defense beats a number-one offense in this case and point.
“There’s sickness, there’s injuries, there’s everything and we just need rest,” Head Coach Taylor Wagner said after the Fort Lewis game. “But we needed this win for sure but now we can start preparing for next week and rest up and kill up.”
The Skyhawks had the best offense in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) coming into the weekend averaging 69.9 points per game while the CMU defense, who is the best in the conference and entire nation, allow only 45.9 ppg.
Fun fact for you: the win 38-35 win against the Skyhawks is the lowest scoring win in CMU history.
The Mavericks held FLC to 27.1 percent shooting from the field which is the eighth time this year that the CMU defense has held their opponents under 30 percent. The Maverick’s defense continues to be one of the best in the country and it won the game for them on Saturday as the Skyhawks scored only seven points in the fourth quarter and made zero from beyond the arc in the entire second half.
“Going into the locker room after the first half we knew obviously the scoreboard isn’t lit up for us but it wasn’t for them either,” Kylyn Rigsby said. “We knew that they were the best offense [in the conference] so we took a lot of pride in that defense and obviously showed why we are the best defense.”
Former Maverick Katrina Chandler returned to Browson for the first time since transferring this last year. Chandler played the prior two seasons for CMU before leaving for her hometown school where came into the game as the Skyhawks second best scorer.
Funny thing is, because of Chandler’s time at CMU…she knew all of the plays Wagner was calling.
“The minute we call[ed] something, she looks at who’s defending that person and she’s telling the defender exactly how to guard it,” Sydni Brandon said. “That’s what made it kinda hard.”
Chandler was limited to seven points while Kylyn, who she was guarding was CMU’s leading scorer with 10 points and also added four rebounds and three assists.
It was almost a polar opposite compared to Friday night that saw CMU win by 25 points in the 67-42 defeat of the Grizzlies. Both Kelsey Siemons and Kylyn Rigbsy scored 16 points a piece and Siemons went perfect from the arc shooting 4-4. On Saturday, Siemons went 0-5 from three-point range.
That was a game that was centered around players dealing with their physical limits. Both Sierra McNicol and Sydni Brandon were knocked on the ground while grabbing their knees after some knockaround plays. McNicol was forced to leave the game before halftime but would later return to the lineup in the third quarter with tape on her knee; she wore the same tape job on Saturday and looked more mobile than the night before.
Brandon has been dealing with her specific knee issue almost the entire season as she wears the sleeve on her right knee. On Friday Brandon left the game temporarily, like McNicol, but returned shortly afterward.
Other injuries continue to pile up as Sariah Wi Neera has suited up for both of the last two games but has not seen any minutes, Morgan Myers was wearing a walking boot on her right foot during Saturday’s game. Because of this, players like Savannah Domgaard have been forced to step up. Domgaard played a combined 24 minutes over the weekend and racked up 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists through the two games.
CMU will now hit their toughest point in the season as their first two games of a four-game road trip will be played next week in back-to-back games against the number two and three teams in the RMAC. Dixie State on Friday, Jan.24 and then Westminster the very next night.
“If you’re gonna be a championship team, you gotta be able to win on the road and we’ll see if we’re up to it,” Wagner said.
