Last Tuesday the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) tipped-off their women’s basketball conference tournament. Owning the seventh overall seed within the conference, the Colorado Mesa University (CMU) women’s basketball team traveled to Golden, Colorado where they were hosted by the number two Colorado School of Mines (CSM).
In a touch matchup, the Mavs were unable to come back from a big first quarter deficit, and lost the matchup 66-60.
Early on, nothing was quite falling for the CMU, as they spent the better part of the first quarter missing shots. With just four minutes left in the quarter, Sophomore Tia Slade got a fast break and scored, but the late quarter push was not enough, and the women went into the second quarter down 10 points.
The second quarter head coach Taylor Wagner and the Mavs got going, taking over on the defensive side of the ball, grabbing 10 rebounds over CSM’s 5 offensive boards in the quarter. They showed out on offense as well, outscoring CSM 15-11, and closing the lead to just 6 points.
In the second half of the game, CMU and CSM were perfectly matched, both teams scoring 18 and 17 in the third and fourth quarters, respectively. Unfortunately, their performance in the second quarter was not enough to close the gap entirely, and the Mavericks lost 66-60, and bowed out of the quarterfinal round.
Slade put together a stellar performance to end the year, very nearly nabbing her third double-double of the season. She put up 19 points on 10 shots, from both inside and outside the three-point line, and added two free throws. She also grabbed seven boards.
Senior Monica Brooks also put together a full stat line on the night, scoring 13, tacking on five rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal. Brooks ended the season with 317 points and 200 rebounds, making it 591 and 355 career points and rebounds in her CMU career.
Sophomore Leah Redding also put together a career night, setting career highs in points, minutes played, shot attempts and makes, free throws, and rebounds.
Redding shot 55% on the night, knocking down six inside the arc, one outside, and three from the free throw line for her career high 16 points. She also played for 23 minutes, beating her previous total, which came against Park College two years ago.
On March 1st, just a day after the women’s exit from the tournament, the RMAC released the lists for the all-conference team and special awards. There were two Mavs who were listed this season.
Freshman Olivia Reed was named RMAC Freshman of the year and All-RMAC First Team following an impressive first year in the program. She nearly averaged a double-double with 12.4 points and 9.5 rebounds per game, which was the team lead in both categories.
Reed’s 275 rebounds this season set a single season record for a freshman player, and netted her the seventh best single season outing by a Mav. She also tied the freshman record in blocks with 47, and has made 14th on the single season list in the same stat category.
Brooks was also named an honorable mention for the RMAC All-Conference team due to a solid senior season in which she averaged 11 points per game, and 6.9 rebounds per game.
She also had 71 assists this season, a personal best for Brooks, which was second most on the team. Brooks also had the highest scoring game this season by a player on the women’s team with 25 which came against Regis University on February 3.
Next season, the team will be without Brooks, but will have a good core of experienced players, in Slade, sophomore Kylie Kravig, Reed, and freshman Jamisyn Heaton to build on. They’ll also have players like Redding and junior Laura Guttierez return, which should serve to only boost the ability of this team going into next season.
