The Mavericks upset the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s top-seed and the No. 13 Colorado School of Mines (CSM) 81-74 on senior night.
Graduate student guards Mariah Martin, Daniella Turner and Sophie Anderson were honored during the senior night ceremonies. Graduate student forwards Savannah Domgaard and Kelsey Siemons were honored in the ceremonies as well.
Turner scored a season-high, game-high and near career-high 28 points which were just one point off her career-high of 29 points. She shot nine of 16 from the field and went a perfect four for four from behind the three-point arc. Turner played all 40 minutes of the game to help pull off the win.
Martin scored 20 points and she dished out six assists in Colorado Mesa University’s (CMU) win. Martin also played all 40 minutes of the game to help her record her 14 game of the season scoring 20 or more points.
The first half was hard-fought by both teams as CMU and CSM were tied at 34 going into the halftime break.
“We were like it is zero to zero again, it’s a brand new half, we just have to come out and win 20 more minutes. I think we were all ready for that challenge and I think everyone stepped up tonight,” Graduate student guard Sophie Anderson said.
The Orediggers were quick to break it taking a three-point lead with 8:36 left in the third quarter.
The Mavericks answered with six straight points from three different players to take a 40-37 lead. Josephine Howery carved into the paint to finish at the rim off an assist from Sammy Van Sickle to cut the Mavericks lead down to one point.
Martin’s big second half started as she pushed CMU’s lead back up to three points as she hit a jumper to record her seventh point of the game. CSM took five-point as Liz Holter and Ashley Steffeck scored eight consecutive points with 4:44 left in the third quarter.
The back-and-forth nature of the game continued as Turner tied the game up at 47 with 3:58 left in the third quarter. Two minutes later, Martin gave CMU a four-point lead at the free-throw line and followed it up with a pull-up three-pointer over her defender to put CMU up 53-49.
The fourth quarter got off to a slow start as neither team scored in the opening two and a half minutes. Turner got the scoring started in the fourth quarter as she hit her third three-pointer of the game to put CMU up by five points.
Martin pushed the Mavericks lead up to seven points with 6:44 left in the game as she carved into the paint to finish at the rim.
CSM quickly cut the lead back down to five, but Turner hit her final three-pointer of the game to put the Mavericks up 61-53.
Each time the Orediggers cut the Mavericks lead to five points or less, CMU answered with a bucket of their own to keep CSM at bay.
In the final minute and a half of the game, the Mavericks were sent to the free-throw line six different times as the Orediggers were forced to foul down by seven points.
Martin was sent to the line first in the final minute and a half and hit both shots to put CMU up 73-64. Denali Pinto answered by making two shots at the free-throw line to cut the lead back down to seven.
Redshirt junior guard Monica Brooks and Turner both hit both shots at the free-throw line to put CMU up 77-66. Van Sickle came on strong though in the final 30 seconds as she hit two contested three-pointers in a last-ditch effort to get CSM back into the game.
Van Sickle’s effort proved too little, too late as the Mavericks pulled out the 81-74 win.
CMU shot 46.3% from the field and 45.8% from beyond the three-point arc. They scored 24 points in the paint and the Mavericks bench chipped in for 12 points.
Anderson scored 13 points in the game and shot a perfect five for five from the field. She pulled down six rebounds and finished with three steals in the Mavericks win.
“[Anderson] did a phenomenal job. She wasn’t with us the first time we played them. She is the heart and soul, defender, rebounder. It made a big difference having her tonight and shutting Pinto down. She just does a great job on all those good wings that we face, and she did it again tonight,” Wagner said.
CMU’s next game is Thursday, Feb. 24 at 5:30 p.m. to open their final regular-season road trip against Western Colorado University in Gunnison, Colo.
