The Colorado Mesa University (CMU) women’s basketball team found themselves in troubled territory tonight by having 23 personal fouls in loss to the Westminster Griffins.
The Mavericks had to make adjustments to their game plan due to senior guard Kylyn Rigsby and redshirt sophomore Natalie Bartle drawing fouls early on. The Mavericks would ended up losing 64-61.
“They weren’t guarding three of our girls and that was it. They were guarding Ky and they were guardian Kelsey and they were just baiting everyone else to shoot it and they weren’t comfortable taking the shot,” Women’s Basketball Head Coach, Taylor Wagner said.
Bartle led the team in scoring with 24 points. She also had seven rebounds on the night and tied senior guard Sophie Anderson in assists with four.
“Being a point guard no one thinks that you are going to rebound so I think that I can capitalize on that and it is something that our coach pushes into our heads is for the guards to rebound and so I think that is something that I have been focusing on,” Bartle said.
The Mavericks tried to capitalize on rebounds having 48 on the night but could not drive the ball to the other side of the court enough. Senior forward Sierra McNicol led the team with 11 rebounds but was three for ten shooting.
“We did a great job rebounding, that was one of our keys we just could not capitalize on it and that was the difference of when we got those rebounds we just could not get points off of them,” Wagner said.
The Mavericks tried to stop the Griffins leading scorers but Mariah Martin and Sarah McGinley combined for 32 of their 64 points on the night.
“They are really efficient, every girl can score out there, they shoot high percentages and they’re really patient, they find their shot and they work until they get it,” Wagner said.
Going into the game against South Dakota Mines, the Mavericks look to come back with a higher confidence level ready to come back from the loss.
The Mavericks will head to Rapid City, South Dakota to play South Dakota Mines on Friday Feb. 5 at 5:30 P.M.
