Sports Reporter
Priorities for opponents of the CMU women’s basketball team this season have been: stop Sharaya Selsor, stop Aubrey Boehme and stop Sharaya Selsor again, but Black Hills State didn’t prepare for Christen Lopez in the RMAC Shootout championship game Saturday night.
Lopez and top-seeded Mavs ended sixth-seeded BHSU’s Cinderella run 73-55 and captured its second consecutive RMAC Shootout trophy, clinching an automatic spot in the NCAA Regional tournament. Lopez scored a career-high 25 points on 72 percent shooting, while piling up five assists, four steals and four rebounds.
“It felt great,” Lopez said. “My teammates got me the ball when I was open. We were able to get stops on defense, and that always makes opportunities on offense.”
Selsor found her shooting touch and drained five uncontested three-pointers.
“We pride ourselves on team defense, and I thought Dakota [Barrie] did a great job and made her take some tough shots,” Black Hills Coach Mark Nore said. “When we had to switch on defense was when she was open and got her shots.”
In the first eight minutes, BHSU came out in a zone defense, daring the Mavs to shoot threes. Selsor and Taylor Rock started 4-4 from three and forced BHSU to play man-to-man defense. Both teams played well offensively in the first half, with the Yellow Jackets shooting 55 percent from the field and the Mavericks hitting 54 percent.
Mesa controlled the first half, but BHSU’s Chelsey Biegler led a 7-0 run as the first half was winding down. Biegler matched her point per game average of 15 points in the first half, and CMU led, 37-32.
“I think there was a point where we were up 13 points with three minutes left, and we said we had to step up the defense,” Coach Taylor Wagner said. “They were shooting over 50 percent, and you’re not going to beat many teams doing that. We came out and made sure to force them to take tough shots.”
The Mavs heard the message at half time and opened the second half with their own 15-5 run that included back-to-back steals from Lopez. During the Mavs’ run, Beigler only managed two points.
Priorities one, two and three were in check for BHSU most of the game, with Selsor only shooting 37 percent and Boehme limited to 15 points.
“They put someone who is 6’1” on me, so I tried to find my outside game and not force it too much inside,” Selsor said. “But we’ve seen it in other conferences. You have to have more than your one-two guns firing.”
With six minutes left, Lopez scored the Mavericks’ next eight points to extend the lead to 20 and shattered any chance of a Black Hills upset. Lopez earned RMAC Shootout Most Valuable Player, and the Mavs lifted the RMAC trophy for the second straight year.
The Mavs will travel to the First United Bank Center in Canyon, Texas, for the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Mavs, a second seed, will play seventh-seeded Midwestern State on March 14.
“As far as where we are at, I think we’re more prepared because of our experience,” Selsor said. “We’ve been there last year, and we know what to expect. We know what’s coming.”
brjthomp@mavs.coloradomesa.edu
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