“There were up’s and down’s but there a whole lot of more up’s,” Head coach Taylor Wagner said.
The 2018-19 season for the Colorado Mesa Women’s basketball team ended in the second round of the NCAA Div. II Women’s Basketball Tournament when the Mavericks lost their first and only game at home to Lubbock Christian. The season will not be defined by the loss, considering it was so much more than that one game.
Wagner and his squad were predicted to finish seventh in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference preseason rankings but ironically, they ended the year winning the RMAC Tournament and Regular Season Championship.
“It was a great year, great team and great team chemistry,” Wagner said. “It was fun to see them come together from the early preseason…then to kinda see the finished product in March. They got better.”
It was Wagner’s seventh season at the helm for CMU and he ended the year winning his fourth RMAC Championship and earning his fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Mavericks accumilated a 27-4 record and created some of the best memories out of Wagner’s tenure.
The most memorable moment? The majority of those around the locker room said it was cutting down the nets inside Brownson Arena after defeating conference rival Westminster 67-50 in the finals of the RMAC Tournament Championship. It was a first-time experience for the majority of the roster.
By the end of the year, CMU was known for their prolific defense. They lead the RMAC in fewest points allowed per game as well as field goal percentage. The Mavericks held their opponents to 51.5 points per game on average as well as 35.4 percent shots made from the field. They also led the conference with the highest turnover margin as well as assist to turnover ratio.
“They hung their hat on that every single game,” Wagner said. “The individual performances we had all year long it seemed like everybody stepped up”
One of the biggest players to step up was Jaylyn Duran. The CMU all-time leader in career three-pointers ended her career as one of the most prolific scores in program history. The Pueblo native ended the year as the leading scorer in the RMAC and made the most three’s out of anyone in the conference. Duran was named an All-American, RMAC Player of the Year and the NCAA South Central Region Player of the Year.
“She’s always been a good shooter since the first time she stepped on campus,” Wagner said. “Each year she added a little bit more wrinkles to her game. I thought this year, her defense was the best she’s played. She was solid and [I] never worried about her on the defensive side…Every award she got she deserved and put the time in and I’m proud to say that I got to coach Jaylyn Duran.”
Duran’s partner in crime on the floor this year was Syndi Brandon. Brandon was named the RMAC Tournament MVP and was the most prolific player on the CMU’s defensive side of the ball this year. Brandon led the nation steals-to-turnover ratio and lead the conference with 75 total steals on the year.
The Energizer Bunny of CMU quickly became a crowd favorite this year at Brownson and it reflected in the way she played.
“She filled the stat sheet every night,” Wagner said. “Her defense was phenomenal; the steals, the rebounding, the assists and not turning the ball over. There were a handful of games where she stepped up and scored for us too and got to the free throw line. I thought she was the key in a lot of games down the stretch for us.”
Other players will have to fill the role that will be left after Brandon and Duran leave. Players like Kylyn Rigbsy, Kelsey Siemons and Natalie Bartle have their eyes set to take over the leadership positions as well as the scoring roles.
CMU has a winning program under their belts. This year will be remembered as one of the best in recent memory but after a year like this, it only raises the question of can they top it next year?
