by Andrew Kiser
The Colorado Mesa University women’s basketball team survived a late scare Saturday, Jan. 28, as the South Dakota School of Mines Hardrockers’ Sami Steffeck last-second shot rattled out of the basket as the time expired. CMU held on to win, 59-58.
Center Ma’ata Epenisa led the way for the Mavs with 20 points. Her go-ahead layup with 1:27 left to play sealed the Mavs’ 14th win of the season.
“We were pretty excited especially after last night losing to Black Hills [State],” head coach Taylor Wagner said. “I thought we battled the whole game and we gave ourselves an opportunity to win.”
On Friday, the Mavs played against the Yellowjackets. The game began with the Yellowjackets scoring the first four points of the game. However, CMU was able to keep it close, but after the first quarter, the Yellowjackets had a 14-12 lead.
The Mavs took their only lead of the ballgame after guard Erin Reichle made a jumper to make the score, 21-20. But the Yellowjackets then went on a 6-0 run and had the lead for good. At halftime, CMU was down 34-29.
The third quarter was the lowest scoring quarter for both teams. The Mavs and Yellowjackets scored nine and 10 respectively in the quarter. After three, the Yellowjackets had a 44-38 lead.
The Mavs were able to cut the lead down to three with 2:37 minutes left to play in the fourth quarter. However, the Yellowjackets went on a 9-2 run that put the game out of reach for the Mavs. The Yellowjackets won the game, 64-56.
The Mavs committed a season-high turnover with 20, which led to 25 points for the Yellowjackets. CMU also struggled from the field shooting 39 percent.
Reichle finished with a game-high 15 points and guard Sydney Small had 13 points off the bench. Yellowjackets’ Rachel Erickson led her team in scoring with 13.
The next day, the Mavs played against the Hardrockers, where the team had a lead for most of the first quarter. After one-quarter, the Mavs were up 16-12.
CMU then started the second quarter going on a 7-2 run to make the score 23-15.
“We wanted to get to a faster start than we did yesterday,” Wagner said. “I thought the girls played well and we were getting after it.”
However, the Hardrockers were able to cut the lead at the end of the second quarter. At halftime, the Mavs were ahead 29-28.
Coming out of halftime, the Hardrockers took their first lead at 34-33. It was the team’s first lead since early in the first quarter at 7-6.
Mines led as many as seven in the quarter before the Mavs cut the lead to three. At the end of the third quarter, the Hardrockers were ahead 44-41.
“(The Hardrockers) were getting points in the paint and getting to the free throw line,” Wagner said. “We fouled them quite a bit when they went inside on us.”
To start the fourth quarter, the Mavs took the lead back thanks to a pair of layups. But then the Hardrockers made back-to-back three-pointers to take a 50-47 lead.
CMU was playing catch-up for most of the fourth quarter before an Epenisa layup gave the Mavs a 57-56 lead. But on the next Mines possession, Epenisa fouled the Hardrockers’ Megan Rohrer.
Rohrer made both free throws. On the next Mavs possession Epenisa gave the Mavs the lead for good. The Hardrockers had three field goal attempts to take the lead in the final 30 seconds, but each shot was no good.
Besides Epenisa, guard Bryanna Adams was the only other CMU player with double-digit points with 14. The Hardrockers’ Anna Haugen finished with a double-double of 11 points and 14 rebounds.
The free throw discrepancy was in the Hardrockers favor, the team went 10-16, while CMU went a perfect 7-7 from the line.
With the win and lost over the weekend, the Mavs are now 14-5 overall and have an RMAC record of 11-4.
The Mavs next home game is against Western State Colorado at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 31. Then the team plays Westminster College at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4.
