by Ashlyn Gerbaz
The RMAC released the preseason women’s basketball coach’s poll on Oct. 11. Colorado Mesa is predicted to finish fourth in a tie with Black Hills State for the 2016-17 season.
Leading the polls is CSU- Pueblo in first, Colorado School of Mines in second and UCCS is predicted to finish third.
“I think every team wants to end in first place,” head coach Taylor Wagner said. “so whether you’re ranked first or last or in- between, I think each team’s goal is to be there at the end and that’s ours and we want to work towards that.”
Senior guard, Bryanna Adams, was named to the preseason All-RMAC team in the poll. She transferred from Utah State University-Eastern for the 2015- 16 season, and made All-RMAC First Team for that season.
“For me it’s kind of motivating,” Adams said. “I think we should be placed higher, but that’s not how it was so it’s motivating. I think we’re gonna prove them wrong this year. We’re just excited to go out and start the season and show them who we really are.”
“You got to prepare for what their strengths are not necessarily what their ranking is, but what their players can do,” Wagner said. “That’s what we’ll prepare for is how they are as a team and hopefully be able to go out and steal one from them.”
The CMU women’s basketball team traveled to Cedar City, Utah on Oct. 25 for a pre- season exhibition game against Southern Utah University. The Mavs fell short to the
Thunderbirds, with a final score of 75-70.
“We learned a lot last night,” Wagner said. “You know they were big and long and a division one team, they’re a little bit stronger and faster in every position but we held our own and some girls played really well and some girls didn’t, and what we’ve been looking for in practice is consistency and that’s what we’ll look forward to in playing another exhibition game against BYU is getting better each and every single day and making sure that we’re ready.”
“I think we learned a lot in a lot of ways. Our defense, our offense, and our team chemistry we’re still trying to figure things out,” Adams said. “Overall we’re taken positive from it. It was a close game we had opportunities to put it away so we just gotta learn from it and move on.”
The team will travel to Provo, Utah for one more exhibition game against Brigham Young University on Nov. 4, before RMAC conference games start.
“Playing those teams what it does is it exposes us, you know our weaknesses, and so in those practices that’s what we’ll focus on to get ready for RMAC play,” Wagner said.
“We’re looking forward to BYU,” Adams said. “They’re gonna be a tough team so we just gotta learn to take care of the ball, play solid defense and not let anyone take advantage especially in the post to protect the paint.”
RMAC conference games are set to begin Nov. 25 for the Mavericks, who will play Western State Colorado University in BrownsonArena.
