ALAMOSA, Colo.—The Adams State University Women's Basketball team will hit the road for the first time in the 2020-21 season as they open 2021 with two road games at MSU Denver and Colorado Christian on Saturday and Sunday.
 
Game Information
Teams: Adams State (1-2, 1-2 RMAC) at MSU Denver (3-3, 2-2 RMAC)
Date: Saturday, January 2, 2021
Tip-Off: 2:00 p.m.
Location: Denver, Colo.
Site: Auraria Events Center (2,700)
Series Record: MSU Denver leads 29-8
 
Teams: Adams State (1-2, 1-2 RMAC) at Colorado Christian (1-3, 1-3 RMAC)
Date: Sunday, January 3, 2021
Tip-Off: 2:00 p.m.
Location: Lakewood, Colo.
Site: CCU Events Center (500)
Series Record: Colorado Christian leads 37-13
 
 
Coaches
ASU: Jaime Green, 7-50 (3rd Season, ASU); 49-64 (4th Overall)
MSUD: Tanya Have, 190-112 (11th Season, MSUD); 251-211 (15th Overall)
CCU: Corey Laster, 40-72 (3rd Season, CCU); 49-64 (4th Overall)
 
Media Coverage (Click Links)
Live Video: RMAC Network (https://portal.stretchinternet.com/adams/)
ASU Radio: KSPK-FM, 104.1 FM (http://stream.kspk.com:8000/live.mp3)
Live Stats: MSU Denver Website (https://roadrunnersathletics.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary)
Live Stats: Colorado Christian Website (https://ccucougars.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary)
 
New Year
The Grizzlies look to open the 2021 portion of the unique 2020-21 season that has been marred by COVID-19 with two big road games at MSU Denver (Jan. 2) and Colorado Christian (Jan. 3) with both games tipping off at 2 p.m.
 
These two teams were set to open the season in early December but erring on the side of caution, the two games to open the new year will be the first two road games for the Grizzly women.
 
The Grizzlies opened the season by snapping a 16-game losing streak against CSU-Pueblo with a 62-61 win. The win was the Grizzlies' first since 2011 and marks the first time the Grizzlies opened the season 1-0 since 2017.
 
Adams State fell in their second home game against South Dakota Mines, 70-57 before falling to No. 24 Colorado Mesa University, 66-38 on Dec. 18.
 
Adams State returns just three letter-winners from last year's squad that finished with a 4-24 record and a 14th place finish in the RMAC.
Adams State will be returning two players who sat out all but one and two games, respectively, in 2019-20 due to injury. Kaela McClure, who played in just one game will be back, while Stephanie Ruiz returns to the Grizzly ranks as a leader. Ruiz, who has played in 54 games as a Grizzly, starting 44 of them, averages 11.6 points per game as she is a consistent 37 percent shooter from the field and an equal 33 percent shooter from beyond the arch.
 
Redshirt junior Stephanie Ruiz was named the Adams State Athletics' Student Athlete of the Week as she has posted a 3.26 GPA and is majoring in Business Administration. She posted a team-high 28 points during the team's three games in December.
 
Kassie Schell returns for her junior season. She has played in 36 games for the Grizzlies including 12 in the starting lineup. She averages 2.6 points per game and 2.1 rebounds. Sophomore Laura Gutierrez will play her second season as a Grizzly. Last season she played in 27 games, starting 20 of those, averaging 8.6 points per game as she was a 28 percent shooter from the field. Also returning for her second season is Paiton Demps. She played in 27 games last season, 22 of which she started in. She averaged 4.8 points per game and 4.4 rebounds per game.
 
Adams State got stellar reinforcements this season in Division I transfer Kaitlyn Bell and junior college transfers Kayla Harris and Haley Eaves and freshman Elaina Watson.
 
The Grizzlies were selected to finish 13th in the 2020 RMAC preseason Coaches' poll. ASU received 37 points while Colorado Mesa, the two-time defending RMAC Tournament Champions have been tabbed as the favorite to repeat in the 2020-21 RMAC Women's Basketball poll. The Mavericks received 189 points and eight first-place votes. They finished last year with an overall record of 26-5.
 
Jaime Green returns for her third year at the helm and brings in assistant coach Mario Ceatano who moved just a couple of miles north from Northern New Mexico.
 
About MSU Denver
The MSU Denver Roadrunners enter Saturday's contest with a 3-3 overall record as they opened the season with a non-conference win over Regis before dropping three straight to Colorado School of Mines, No. 24 Colorado Mesa, and Western Colorado before finishing 2020 with two straight wins, over Colorado Christian and South Dakota Mines.
 
Senior Forward Allie Navarette was named the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's most recent women's Basketball Offensive Player of the Week. Navarette was on point in averaging 26.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in two critical close victories, shooting a combined 60.6 percent from the field (20 of 33) in a 57-56 win over Colorado Christian and a 64-62 win over South Dakota Mines. She ranks third in the RMAC and was fifth in Division II in free throws made (32) while shooting 80.0 percent at the line. She leads the RMAC and ranks 18th in Division II in total rebounds (47), and she is fourth in the RMAC and 31st nationally with an average of 18.8 points per game. She is Division II's active career leader in points (1,511), scoring average (18.7), free throws made (497), free throw attempts (604), and field goal attempts (1,125), while ranking second in free throw percentage (82.3) and double-doubles (33), and third in rebound average (9.0).
 
San Luis Valley native Kendra Parra, a 2020 graduate of Del Norte High School is having a stellar freshman season for the Roadrunners as she has started all six games for them. She averages 7.8 points per game as she is shooting 39 percent (16-of-41) from the field, 36.8 percent (7-of-19) from beyond the arch, and 61.5 percent (8-of-13) from the free-throw line. She averages 5.3 rebounds per game and has seven assists and one steal.
 
Series History vs. MSU Denver
Saturday's match-up will be the 37th meeting between these two storied teams. The MSU-Denver Roadrunners hold a 29-8 overall advantage over the Grizzlies since the team's first meeting back in 1981.
 
The Roadrunners have won the last five and have won 15 of the last 19 contests between the two teams including a 66-58-win last year here in Plachy Hall.
 
The Grizzlies opened the series with the Roadrunners with four straight wins from 1981-1989, however have only won single games in 2007, 2009, 2013 and the last win that came on February 21, 2015. That win was an 86-84 win in Alamosa.
 
The Grizzlies are 0-5 when the Roadrunners are ranked in the Top 25 and are 0-3 post season play, including 0-2 in the RMAC Tournament and 0-1 in the NCAA Division II Central Regional Tournament.
 
About Colorado Christian
The Colorado Christian Cougars will enter the weekend with a 1-3 overall record. They opened the season with losses to Colorado Mesa, Fort Lewis and MSU Denver before earning their first win of the year on Dec. 19 when they defeated South Dakota Mines, 76-69.
 
The Cougars are led by senior Lourdes Gonzalez. The 5-11 forward from Mazatlan, Mexico has started all four games for Colorado Christian as she averages 16 points per game. She is a 58.1 percent (25-of-43) shooter from the field and a 56 percent (14-of-25) shooter from the free throw line. She has addded in a team-high 32 rebounds (8 per game) and has eight assists, four steals and two blocks.
 
The bench is stellar for the Cougars as they earned 35 points from their bench in their win over South Dakota Mines. They also scored 17 points off turnovers and 13 of those points were on the fast break.
 
Coming out of the locker room at halftime has been the boost the Cougars have needed this season; in both games the Cougars have scored the most points of the game in the third quarter and outscored their opponents in the third in both games this season. The Cougars have also scored more points in the second half this season in both games. Scoring 31 in the second half of the Colorado Mesa game and scoring 40 in the second half of the Fort Lewis game. 
 
The Cougars are getting wonderful production from some first-year players, Mara Kemmer is cementing herself in the line-up, playing for 36 minutes and scoring nine points in her Cougars debut. Christen Curry highlights how deep the Cougars are at the guard position this season playing 14 minutes and scoring two points along with two rebounds in her first game with the Cougars.
 
Series History vs. Colorado Christian
Sunday's match-up will be the 51st meeting between these two storied teams. The Colorado Christian Cougars hold a13-37 overall advantage over the Grizzlies since the team's first meeting back in 1992.
 
The Cougars have won the last three and have won 17 of the last 21 contests between the two teams including 52-44 and 77-51 wins last year.
 
The Grizzlies opened the series with the Cougars with a win from, however have only won single games in 2006, 2011, 2013 and the last win that came on January 25, 2019. That win was a 67-48 win in Lakewood.
 
The Grizzlies have yet to play the Cougars when they have been in the postseason or ranked.
 
Broadcast Information
Saturday and Sunday's game at MSU Denver and Colorado Christian will be broadcast live on the RMAC Network (https://portal.stretchinternet.com/adams/) and will be produced by those respective schools. Since spectators will not be allowed to attend the game in person, fans can tune in and follow along with live stats.
 
In addition, KSPK-FM (http://stream.kspk.com:8000/live.mp3) will once again serve as the official radio station of Adams State Athletics. Adam State Director of Sports Information Eric R. Flores will be calling the Saturday and Sunday's contest for KSPK. Flores, in his first year as the SID at ASU, has several years of radio experience after he was tabbed as the 'Voice of the Mean Moose," doing radio play-by-play for numerous Alamosa High School athletic contests for KGIW-AM and KSPK-FM/TV. In his first season behind the micro-phone, Flores called the Alamosa boys basketball team's run to the state championship final in 2016. Since 2016, Flores has called over 100 Grizzly events including basketball, football and softball. Flores served as a play-by-play commentator for UCCS for men's soccer and lacrosse for one season.
 
Fans can access the game online (http://stream.kspk.com:8000/live.mp3)  or on the radio dial KSPK can be heard on 100.3 in Colorado Springs, Alamosa and the San Luis Valley, 104.1 in South Fork and Trinidad, and 102.3 in Pueblo and Walsenburg.
 
Up Next
The Grizzlies will play on Wednesday at CSU-Pueblo to cap off three games in five days before getting five days off before traveling to UCCS on Jan. 11 to take on the Mountain Lions in a single game at 3:00 p.m.