by Andrew Kiser
The road can be a hostile environment to play in.
For the Colorado Mesa University women’s basketball, the team found success and failure on the road over the weekend. The team won against the Adams State University Grizzlies, 85-56 on Friday, but lost to the Fort Lewis College Skyhawks, 77-50 on Saturday.
Thankfully for the team, this is the last road trip for the team.
“The good news is that we go home now, so we don’t have to travel,” head coach Taylor Wagner said. “We are going to play in front of our fans, and hopefully that will give us energy.”
On Friday, the team played against the Grizzlies, where the Mavs found the three point range throughout the game. The game began with the Mavs starting an 11-3 run. The Mavs led the entire first quarter and were ahead, 19-10, at the end of the quarter.
In the second quarter, both teams traded baskets back and forth. The Grizzlies were able to cut the lead to four, but the Mavs finished the quarter still ahead by nine. At halftime, CMU was winning, 34-25.
The Mavs continued finding their offense in the second half. The team scored 24 points in the third quarter. At the end of the quarter, the Mavs were ahead 58-44.
In the fourth quarter, CMU had another strong quarter by scoring 27 points and limiting the Grizzlies’ offense to 12 points. The Mavs were leading as many as 31 points before winning the game, 85-56.
Guard Jaylin Duran finished with a career-high 27 points, while guard Sydney Small finished with 14 points. Guard Nicole Archambeau had another double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Mavs finished the game going 14-23 (60.9 percent) from the three-point line. The Grizzlies’ Cydney McHenry and Brianna Reyna both finished with a team-high 14 points. CMU never trailed in the game.
The next day, the team traveled to Durango to play against the Skyhawks. The Mavs had an early first quarter lead of 5-4, but after a Skyhawks jumper, CMU would never lead again.
The Skyhawks were able to get a double-digit lead at the end of the quarter. After the end of the first quarter, CMU was down 21-10.
Even though the Skyhawks had a 21 point first quarter, Wagner believed his team was playing good defense, but the Fort Lewis players were making difficult shots. He had to tell his team to continue to defend.
“You tell them you have to give your best effort, sometimes they make a tough shot, but you got to continue,” Wagner said.
In the second quarter, the Mavs were able to cut the lead to seven twice. However, the Skyhawks recovered and built on their lead. At halftime, Fort Lewis was ahead, 40-26.
A Mavs comeback was unlikely in the second half. The Skyhawks built the lead to as many as 24 points in the third quarter. At the end of the final buzzer, the Mavs lost the game, 77-50.
“[Fort Lewis] just made shots and they played defense pretty good,” Wagner said. “We just couldn’t get it going.”
The Mavs’ guard Erin Reichle finished with a team-high 21 points. Center Ma’ata Epenisa had 15 points and six rebounds. The team finished with a season-low shooting percentage of 27 percent.
The Skyhawks’ Briana Clah had a game-high 22 points and eight rebounds, while Kayla Herrera finished with 21 points.
With the split over the weekend, the Mavs are now 17-6 with an RMAC record of 14-5.
The Mavs next game is on Saturday, Feb. 18 against the Black Hills State Yellowjackets. The team then plays a week later against New Mexico Highlands University, Friday, Feb. 24 and then play their last regular season home game against CSU-Pueblo, Saturday, Feb. 25.
