The Mavericks fall in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Tournament Semifinals to the Orediggers 47-50 to end their streak at seven straight RMAC Tournament wins.
Senior guard Kylyn Rigsby led Colorado Mesa University (CMU) in scoring with 13 points in her final game as a Maverick.
“I know for a fact, I’ll always be remembered as the loud one, but I hope that they know I’ll always have their backs. I just hope that all my teammates and Coach Wagner believe that I put all my heart out there every game because that’s what I wanted to do,” Rigsby said.
Colorado School of Mines (CSM) had a big advantage in the rebounding category as they finished with 46 to the Mavericks 32.
The first quarter was a hard-fought battle as neither team was able to build an edge with the first quarter ending with CSM on top 7-6.
“All week, after playing our last game we automatically knew that Colorado School of Mines was going to be animated to play us and they were going to put a lot of pressure on us the whole game. So, our game plan was, if we attack that pressure and find the open seams for passes, then hopefully it would go away,” senior guard Daniella Turner said.
“They just kept coming at us, and as Kylyn said, old habits got to us as we still threw the ball into their hands at times. Other times, we looked really good finding open seams and hitting open shots,” Turner said.
The Orediggers were first to get on the board in the second quarter as they were able to build a six-point lead. Junior guard Monica Brooks and Rigsby both made a three to tie the game up at 12.
Sammy Van Sickle increased the Orediggers lead back to seven points with a three with 3:09 left in the first half. Senior guard Daniella Turner made a jumper to trim the Orediggers lead down to five points.
The Orediggers answered with a bucket of their own before redshirt sophomore Natalie Bartle got into the paint to make a floater with 1:19 left in the half. Liz Holter hit a three-pointer on the next possession for CSM to send the Orediggers into halftime with an eight-point lead.
“We just talked about doing the little things. I would say that the whole game was a game of possessions. We talked about how we were losing the rebounding battle, the free throw battle and the turnover battle. Those are the three things that if you win those, you win the game type situation, so we really wanted to focus on those,” Rigsby said.
Van Sickle got the Orediggers on the board first in the third quarter with a three, but Rigsby was quick to answer with a three of her own.
Senior forward Sierra McNicol brought the Mavericks within three points with 5:48 left in the half as she got into the paint to convert a layup. Raven Herrera and McNicol traded free throws to keep the Mavericks deficit at 3 points until Rigsby stole the ball from Denali Pinto.
Rigsby took the steal and raced down the floor to convert the fast break layup and bring CMU within one point.
CSM scored nine unanswered points to end the third quarter with Van Sickle hitting a three with two seconds left in the quarter.
Courtney Stanton got the Orediggers got on the board first with a three to give CSM an 11-point lead. The Mavericks started their comeback after Stanton’s three-pointer.
Bartle started CMU’s comeback as she got into the paint to hit a floater with 7:26 left in the game. The Mavericks scored six unanswered points after Bartle’s basket to cut the Orediggers lead to three points.
Ashley Steffeck pushed CSM’s lead back to six points before Rigsby hit another three to cut the Orediggers lead to three points.
Staton went one of two at the free-throw line with 23 seconds left in the game to CSM a four-point lead again. McNicol cut CSM’s lead back down to two points as she made a layup in the paint.
Pinto and Staton both went two for two from the free-throw line to put the nail in the coffin as they gave CSM a six-point lead. Turner hit a three with zeros on the clock to cut the Orediggers lead to three-points, but it was too little, too late.
“We had a great mindset coming into this game. We were prepared, we had a great week of practice after our Metro game, we had watched film the night before, everybody knew exactly what we had to do, our shootaround was very energetic. Everybody was ready to go for the game, so it was kind of shocking how things turned out,” Turner said.
CMU now must hold their breath to see if they will be able to get into the NCAA Regional Tournament as they are on the outside looking in. Six teams will be selected for regionals, and the Mavericks sit at the seven seed in the regional rankings.
