The Mavericks picked up their fifth win of the season in their final game of the Holiday Inn-Airport Thanksgiving Classic.
Colorado Mesa University (CMU) got out in front of Montana Western University (MWU) early and never gave the Bulldogs the lead.
Graduate student forward Savannah Domgaard was on top of her game from behind the arc as she made all four of the three pointers she attempted. Domgaard finished the game with 15 points including 12 from her four three pointers.
Head Coach Taylor Wagner discussed how Domgaard was doing what she was supposed to do from behind the arc. He also discussed how the Mavericks offense has worked on getting the ball to the player that is in the most successful position to get points for the team.
“She was on fire and that is the thing when we are on offense, get the ball in a position where the girls can be successful and it is almost like sometimes we went away from that kid weather it was a wide open three from a three point shooter, or someone down who is down in the middle who can create for herself it is almost like it went away from us sometimes and I think that it where we can be better,” Wagner said.
Offensively graduate student guard Mariah Martin controlled the Mavericks with a season high 23 points. Martin had two of her five three pointers and was perfect from behind the free throw line.
The Mavericks defense only allowed the Bulldogs to score seven points in the first period. By the time halftime rolled around, the defense let the MWU offense creep in a little bit.
“The first 16 minutes of the game I thought we were phenomenal, just better than our Utah Valley [University] first half. Girls were locked in. We shot the ball well, the defense was great, we didn’t blow anything on the scout and then right before the half I think our largest lead was at 27 and then we ended up cutting it to 20. I thought that was kind of the difference: we let them creep in just a little bit and then we were not able to shake them in the second half,” Wagner said.
Both teams had ten turnovers each. The Bulldogs benefited 11 points from the Mavericks on turnovers. Once MWU had a little bit of control, the Mavericks had to find the fight to finish out the game and were able to do that with offensive rebounds.
Graduate student guard Daniella Turner had a solid defensive night as she was able to pick up a career high 12 rebounds with four of them being on the offensive end of the game. The Mavericks looked to Turner to help regain control on the defensive end.
The Bulldogs went on a 12 point run in the fourth quarter that allowed them to get closer to the Mavericks.
The Mavericks will be back on the road this weekend to begin conference play. They will take on Colorado Christian University on Dec.4 at 1:30 p.m. They will then travel 20 minutes down the road to Denver, Colo. to take on Metro State University-Denver on Dec. 5 at 1 p.m.
