GUNNISON, Colo.  Western Colorado completed a weekend sweep of home games with Saturday afternoon's wire-to-wire 74-49  Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference win over Metropolitan State University Denver.

The Mountaineers rallied past visiting Colorado School of Mines on Thursday for the first of the two RMAC wins that keep Western in second place within the league standings.

JUST THE FACTS
Final score: Western def. MSU Denver, 74-49
Records: Western 15-6 overall (10-4 RMAC), MSU Denver 6-16 (5-9)
Location: Paul Wright Gym, Gunnison, Colo.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Western was off to the races from the opening tip, scoring the first eight points of the game and doubling up the Roadrunners, 20-10, by the end of the first quarter.
• The advantage grew to 34-19 late in the second after consecutive 3-pointers from Ivey Schmidt and Jayda Maves and a turnaround jumper in the paint from Brooklyn Seymour. But MSU Denver finished the quarter with a 7-0 run to close it deficit to eight, 34-26, heading into the halftime break.
• With the lead down to seven (42-35) midway through the third quarter, Western worked both ends of the court to score 10 unanswered points over the final 5:22 and enter the final frame with a 52-35 lead.
•  The momentum continued building in the fourth, especially from long range. Maves dropped in a triple at the 6:37 mark, igniting a 12-3 Western run, fueled by a trio of 3-pointers from Jayde Tschritter.
• MSU Denver would be held scoreless for more than three minutes after the first of Tschritter's treys. By the time it finally scored again its deficit had ballooned to 29 (71-42), with the Mountaineers settling for a 25-point winning margin at the final buzzer.

COURT NOTES

• For the second consecutive game, Western's Ivey Schmidt scored 19 points to again lead all scorers. Joining her in double figures were Tschritter with 15 and Rachel Cockman with 14 points.
• Western shot 49 percent for the game, including 43% from behind the arc as they rained down 13 3-pointers. Tschritter had four of those, while Maves and Schmidt had three each.
• The Mountaineers limited the Roadrunners to 30% from the floor, and limiting them to a 3-for-19 game from 3-point range.
• The leading rebounding team in the RMAC, Western finished Saturday with a 48-29 advantage off the glass. Seymour led Western with nine rebounds but Schmidt was right behind with eight, and Cockman, Alyssa Eckroth and Penelope Urquhart each came away with five during the win.

THEY SAID IT


UP NEXT
Western heads back out on the road for its next two games, first against Adams State University on February 13, and two days later at Fort Lewis College.