A high-scoring first quarter was enough to seal the dub for the Mavericks despite a “lackadaisical” effort the rest of the three quarters.
The Colorado Mesa University women’s basketball team had a 29-lead at one point in on Friday night in their first home conference matchup against MSU-Denver. Consequently, the Roadrunners took advantage of the lack of energetic play in the second half by the Mavericks. But were unable to complete the comeback. CMU ended up winning by a final score of 70-61.
CMU scored 28 points in the first quarter alone, but then scored only 25 points in the second and third quarter combined. It was the energetic and fire start for the Mavericks that was enough to allow them to hold onto the lead until the end. Daniella Turner had another 20 plus-point game with a game high 23 ponts.
“It was the seven-minute mark of the second quarter that we just kinda played the scoreboard and stopped doing what we wanted to do,” Head Coach Taylor Wagner said. “We let Metro back in it and they played three really good quarters of basketball.”
The game inside Brownson Arena was being broadcasted as part of the NCAA Division II Showcase for the week. It was a showcase of highlights for the first quarter for the Mavericks, but the rest of the game was just trying to regain the same momentum from the first 10 minutes.
“Just no energy,” Wagner replied when asked what changed after the first quarter. “We didn’t wanna guard so we were lackadaisical on the offensive end we know that when we do that we are not successful.”
At the end of the first, six different Mavericks were on the scoreboard and the starters were comfortable in their roles. Sierra McNicol continues to show a dominating presence inside the paint despite her size and scored 12 points while grabbing nine boards. Syndi Brandon brought her season total for steals to 31 which still leads the RMAC. Also, Kylyn Rigbsy scored 12 points with all of her shots being made from behind the arch.
Despite all those positives to take home with ya, the Mavericks still lacked in consistency for all four quarters. There were plenty of moments when bodies as well as the ball was on the ground and CMU managed to rack up 12 turnovers which is the seventh time the team has had 10 or more turnovers in a game.
“:Luckily we had that first quarter lead or else we would have lost that game,” Wagner said.
MSU-Denver shot 66 percent in the fourth quarter to get the game within ten points for the first time since 5:48 remaining in the first. Bree Wellington finished the night with a team-high 13 points and six rebounds. Morgan Lewis was the only other Roadrunner to score in double digits.
“There’s a little few components that could be improved on,” Danella Turner said. “Just looked back on the film and see where you messed up and fix it for the next time you go out and play.”
The CMU defense is still impressive when they want to be. The Mavericks allowed the Roadrunners to shoot only 36.7 percent from the floor and 23.3 percent in the first half alone.
“Our defense thrives off of high-energy players,” Dani Turner said. “So when we’re timid a little bit and low energy, I think that plays a part into us playing lackadaisical…We’re still trying to piece together a full complete game of having great defense and great offense.”
CMU did improve to 7-2 on the year and it is their fifth win a row. The second game of the three-game homestand will be against Chadron on Saturday night at 5:30 p.m.
