Defense and rebounds will win you 14-straight games.
That is what won the Colorado Mesa University Women’s basketball team their game on Friday night against Dixie State when the Mavericks took care of the Trailblazers 65-42.
With a defense that is ranked the best in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) and by holding opposing offenses to 34.8 percent shooting from the field, it was not surprising when CMU did better than normal against DSU holding them to 26.9 percent from the field.
Dixie State was also outrebounded 41-26.
“We played our game,” Head Coach Taylor Wagner said. “We had great defense, I thought we took great shots and I’m especially happy about outrebounding them by 15 tonight. That was a concern of mine so that was a phenomenal job.”
Freshman Kelsey Siemons lead the Mavericks in scoring as the Tucson native put up 20 points by making six shots from beyond the arc. Leading team scorer Jaylyn Duran followed suit by racking 17 points of her own. Duran leads the RMAC and is fifteenth in the nation in scoring.
The first quarter showed the most trouble for CMU. DSU scored 15, which is the most they put up in any quarter all night and the Mavericks only lead by three going into to the second.
However, after the first, the game momentum was stolen by the Mavericks and was never returned. The Trailblazers did not score a single field goal in the second and scored only three points total. The Mavericks took a sizable 37-18 lead into halftime and had no intention of looking back. Duran managed to score 14 of her 19 points in the first half while Siemons racked up 11.
“The girls are locked in,” Wagner said. “I can tell in practice. They are probably tired of coach harping on them for a few things.”
By halftime, CMU held DSU to only 23.1 percent shooting from the field as well 15.4 percent from three-point range.
During the course of the 14-game winning streak, the Mavericks have relied on extraordinary defense while keeping their offense solid enough to put dubs in their record book. Wagner’s squad would only score 28 points in the second half but the dominant second quarter prevented the Trailblazers from making any formidable attempt at a comeback.
Sydni Brandon had two steals on the night as she continues to lead the entire nation in steals to turnover ratio. Brandon has been a consistent sparkplug for the Mavericks all season and proved to be no different on Friday as the junior hit the hardwood more times than once either going after a ball or throwing her whole body into the play.
“It’s fun to me,” Brandon said. “I feel like when we get stops it kinda gets in their heads more than when we hit three’s…when we get steals I feel like it really gets at them a lot.”
Brandon has 36 steals on the season.
The second half acted as a routine pair of quarters for the best team in the RMAC. There was little to no question CMU had control of the game all the way through till the final buzzer. The Mavericks would eventually seal the 65-42 win and improve to 15-1 on the season.
With all being said, Friday really served as a warmup for Saturday. Westminster College, the only other undefeated team in the RMAC besides CMU, comes to town in what will be the biggest game of the season so far.
The Griffins currently stand at 14-2 and are 12-0 in conference play.
“They are very similar to us,” Wagner said about Westminster. “They shoot the ball exceptionally well, their defense is good and they’ve got good post presence. So we’ve gotta be able to step up our game even a little bit more.”
Tipoff on Saturday will be at 5:30 p.m.
