by Andrew Kiser
After Colorado Mesa University women’s basketball guard Erin Reichle scored 15 of her team’s 19 points in the first quarter, she hoped her teammates would eventually back her up.
Thankfully, for her, the team did, with a 27-point third quarter and 26-point fourth quarter. The Mavs moved past the UCCS Mountain Lions, 80-63, at Brownson Arena on Saturday, Jan. 21.
“I think we started out a little bit slow and I wanted to focus on hitting my shots,” Reichle said. “I was hoping later on my teammates would come along, and they did, and it was awesome.”
“We knew we had to throw the first punch in the third quarter,” guard Bryanna Adams said. “Energy was the biggest thing that helped us. We just came out excited and locked down on defense.”
Before Saturday’s game, the Mavs played the Metro State University-Denver Roadrunners on Friday. CMU never trailed thanks to an early 11-2 run at the beginning of the game.
Adams led the way early with 12 of her game-high 27 points coming in the first quarter. After one quarter the Mavs were ahead 22-12.
In the second quarter the Mavs were able to build on their lead. The team led by 20 before going into halftime with a 45-33 lead.
Entering the second half, the Roadrunners were able to cut the lead to six twice. Once late in the third quarter and again in the fourth quarter with 7:50 left to play.
However, the Mavs went on a 9-1 streak to get the score to 72-58, and the team had a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game. CMU won, 77-55.
Besides Adams, Sydney Small and Reichle finished with double-digits in points with 15 and 13 respectively. The Roadrunners’ Jaelynn Smith led her team in scoring with 21.
The next day, the Mavs played the Mountain Lions, who had an RMAC record of 10-2 going into the game. In the first quarter, the Mavs found themselves down 6-2 early, but a 9-0 run gave the Mavs a lead which they would have until late in the second quarter. After one quarter, CMU was ahead 19-16.
The second quarter was the Mavs’ lowest scoring quarter in the game. The team could only score eight points, and the Mountain Lions were able to capitalize on this by taking a 32-27 lead into halftime.
The five point lead was helped in part by two steals by the Mountain Lions’ Madi Gaibler and Brittany Hernandez. After Hernandez’s steal, she ran down the court and had an uncontested layup with two seconds left to play in the second quarter.
“We came out flat, and we needed a little bit more energy,” Wagner said. “We didn’t change anything in the gameplay; we just had a lack of energy.”
In the third quarter Adams was able to find her offensive rhythm after scoring zero points in the first half. She scored 17 points in the quarter, and the Mavs took the lead for good at 44-42.
“I knew I had to step up for my team in the second half,” Adams said. “My teammates set screens for me and got me open; it’s on them.”
After quarter three, the Mavs were ahead 54-50.
“It was a lot better than in the first quarter and the second quarter,” Reichle said. “We came in, and we said we need to pick the energy up.”
The fourth quarter began with the Mountain Lions cutting the lead to two, but the Mavs built a double-digit lead and never looked back.
“Especially in the fourth quarter I thought defensively we did a good job and we came down with big rebounds,” Wagner said.
CMU outscored UCCS, 26-13, in the final quarter of the game. The Mavs won the game, 80-63. In the second half, the Mavs outrebounded the Mountain Lions, 25-10.
“This is a stride for us because we have been struggling all season to find our identity and this shows us we play against the best teams,” Reichle said.
Reichle had a game-high and season-high 30 points to go along with nine assists. Adams had 23 points and pulled down nine rebounds. Ma’ata Epenisa finished the game with 16 points, going 7-7 from the field.
With the wins over the weekend the Mavs are 13-4 and 10-3 in the RMAC.
The Mavs travel to South Dakota to face off against the Black Hills State Yellowjackets on Friday, Jan. 27. The team then plays the South Dakota School of Mines Hardrockers the next day.
