GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – It was a defensive battle between a pair of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) jostling for position in the league standings, as the Black Hills State University women's basketball team (8-5, 5-4 RMAC) dropped a tough one possession game on the road at Colorado Mesa University (13-4, 7-3 RMAC) Friday night. Both Kaycee Groves and Karissa Smith had career-high scoring nights for the Yellow Jackets.
 
The Mavericks struck first to start the contest with a three from the top of the key on the game's first possession. Neither side would be able to put any points on the board for the next two minutes, but Colorado Mesa controlled the offensive boards with four in that span. CMU would go on to start the contest on a 9-0 run before Kalla Bertram (Jr., Colome, S.D.) would put the Yellow Jackets on the board five minutes into the game with a jumper just inside the circle. Groves (So., Faith, S.D.) and Smith (Fr., Freedom, Wis.) would knock down back-to-back 3-pointers as the Jackets found themselves on an 8-0 run after the slow start to cut the Maverick lead to 9-8. At the end of the quarter, the Mavericks pushed their lead up to eight again, but BH battled back with a 7-0 run to make it 17-15.
 
Haylee Weathersby (Jr., Glendale, Ariz.) would knot the game up at 17-17 with a pair of free throws to open the quarter. Midway through the second quarter, the Yellow Jackets had their chances to take their first lead of the contest, down 20-19, getting stops on the defensive side of the floor but could not get a bucket to fall to do so. A 5-0 run out of a media time out saw the Mavericks push their lead up to six points, but Ellie Moore (Gr., Phoenix, Ariz.) stopped the run with a lay-up to make it 25-21 CMU.
 
The Mavericks would take a 27-23 lead into the halftime locker room behind Groves' team-best seven first half points in her eight minutes of action off the bench, while Smith had six points. Alessia Capley (Gr., Arvada, Colo.) grabbed four rebounds in the first half.
 
The two teams traded buckets in their first two possessions of the second half, as Gracie Haneborg (Jr., North Platte, Neb.) picked up back-to-back buckets for Black Hills State. Moore would get the Jackets to within one possession for the second time on the night at the free throw line, cutting the Maverick lead to 31-29 a couple minutes into the third. Weathering another push from CMU, Black Hills State would pull to within 37-34 with two and a half minutes to play in the period. Colorado Mesa would maintain a three-point advantage with 30 minutes of play in the book, leading 39-36 heading to the fourth quarter.
 
The Yellow Jackets scored the first bucket of the frame, but it would be Mesa who would respond with back-to-back 3-pointers, extending their lead up to 45-38 two minutes into the final quarter. Not to be deterred, BHSU continued to battle as four-straight points made it 45-42 with just over six minutes left on the clock. Off a CMU turnover on the ensuing possession, Bertram would convert a free throw, scoring three of the last five for BH, as the Yellow Jackets continued to claw their way back into the contest. With 5:15 on the block, Bertram would find Groves who would knock a 3-pointer home to tie the game at 45-45 and force the Mavericks to use a time out. Down the stretch, the two teams would trade baskets.
 
The Mavericks held a 52-49 advantage with just over a minute to play and following a Yellow Jacket time out, Capley pulled BH to within one. The Jackets got a stop and a chance to take their first lead of the game but would be unable to convert on the possession. Forced to put the Mavericks at the line, CMU converted the first free throw, but the miss would work out the rest of the clock as Colorado Mesa prevailed 53-51.  
 
GAME NOTES

• Kaycee Groves led the team with her 11 points, etching a new career-high for the sophomore.
• Freshman Karissa Smith set a new career-high with her two first quarter 3-pointers, ending the game with the two; having the six points on the contest (also a career-high).
• Haylee Weathersby also scored in double digits with her 10 points, shooting 6-for-6 from the free throw line.
• The Jacket bench contributed 29 points tonight, scoring 57% of the team's points.
• The Mavericks shot 38.0 from the floor to BHSU's 36.7 on the night.
• As a team, BH shot 80.0% from the free throw line (12-for-15).  
• BHSU held the Mavericks to under their season average for opponent points (57.3ppg) with 53 points.
• The Yellow Jackets held a +6 advantage on the boards (34-28); both sides also grabbing double-digit offensive rebounds (13-10, BHSU advantage).
• Alessia Capley led the team with her six boards, while Ellie Moore and Kalla Bertram both snagged five each.
• Black Hills State drops their first game of the season in the black uniforms (2-1) and it snaps a two-game wining streak against the Mavericks.

Up Next: The Yellow Jackets will head further west into the state of Utah for a clash with the Griffins of Westminster University (3-13, 1-9 RMAC) tomorrow, Saturday, January 20 at 5:00 p.m. The Griffins enter the contest coming off their first RMAC win of the season with a 69-59 win over South Dakota Mines tonight.