In the Rocky Mountains, Front Range rivalry games add spice to the non-conference schedule

No school understands this dynamic better than the University of Northern Colorado Bears, a member of the Big Sky Conference. 

Located in Greeley, the heart of Colorado’s agriculture industry and stockyards, UNC has an enrollment of around 8,500 students and is often overshadowed by larger state schools, like the University of Colorado to its south and Colorado State University to its north.  

UNC head coach Kristen Mattio scheduled three Division I non-conference games this season against in-state rivals, including the CU Buffs of the Big XII, the Air Force Academy Falcons of the Mountain West Conference, and the Denver University Pioneers of the Summit League.

“It’s always great to play in-state schools and especially to have in-state players at those games,” Mattio told The Next. “Colorado kids have a chance to stay home and play great college basketball in a great college program, right?”

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For a program like Northern Colorado, playing against the University of Colorado Buffaloes in Boulder, a powerhouse program with back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances, presents a high risk, high reward proposition.

On the one hand, having an opportunity to take down a team like Colorado can provide a season-defining win for a program like UNC. On the other hand, competing on the road against a typically taller, more skillful and deeper team like Colorado creates a risk to the Bears of getting blown out just as the season is getting started, when coaches are looking to build confidence and chemistry.

The risk is especially heightened for Mattio this season, who faces the daunting challenge of bringing together a roster that includes a whopping ten new players.

Overall, CU has won 12 straight games against UNC and is 15-6 all-time versus the Bears.

But the gamble more or less paid off for Mattio this year. Though UNC fell to CU, 81-66, at Colorado’s home opener at the CU Events Center in Boulder on November 7, the Bears played extremely hard and were competitive until late in the fourth quarter, when the game slipped away. 

On the UNC campus a few days later, team officials used words like “grit” to describe UNC’s effort against Colorado. Despite the double-digit loss, the game was viewed as a positive in helping build future success at UNC. And four days later, the Bears were back in action against another Front Range rival, the Air Force Academy Falcons of Colorado Springs.

Expectations for this clash were high in Greeley, as the Bears were looking to build on the momentum they felt they had established in Boulder. And this time the Bears had the advantage of playing before a home audience on their own turf.  

But the undersized Falcons are a plucky squad that doesn’t mind playing in hostile territory. And a small but vocal contingent of Air Force fans consisting mostly of friends and family members of players and coaches helped neutralize the encouragement the Bears received from the 600+ locals who came out to support the home team.

The Falcons are led on the court by a dynamic, diminutive point guard named Milahnie Perry, a 5’-7” junior from Tampa, Fla. Last year, Perry’s 535 points set the all-time program record for scoring in a season at Air Force.  

This season, Perry is threatening to break her own record. In four contests during the current campaign, she’s averaging 18.5 points per game, a pace that has her on track to exceed 600 points on the season.

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Perry started slowly against UNC in Greeley on the eve of Veteran’s Day, promoted appropriately by UNC as “Military Night.” She started the game 3-for-15 from the field and displayed visible frustration when she was blocked by UNC’s Tatum West midway through the third quarter.  

But Perry kept plugging away. With her team trailing 44-42 with 3:41 to play in the third quarter, Perry drove the lane, drew contact, and threw up a high arching scoop shot as she was fouled. Like a projectile flung into space, the ball reached its apex high above the basket before falling back to earth and dropping through the hoop for the tying basket.  

Perry’s And-1 free throw put the Falcons ahead 45-44, and it was clear flying for the Falcons from there as Air Force stole a road win, 73-66. Perry led all scorers with 21 points, 15 of which she tallied in the second half. The win propelled Air Force to a 3-0 start for only the third time in program history.  

While attending the game, I noticed a conspicuous Air Force fan who was leaning forward on his courtside seat, encouraging Perry to be more aggressive. I spoke with this fan after the game and, sure enough, he turned out to be Mark Perry, father of Milahnie. I asked him to describe the small but mighty fan base that traveled to Greeley to support the Falcons.

 “We’re pretty decent,” Perry stated humbly. “We had a good number of fans come to [a tournament in] Hawaii [last] year and we have a tournament this year in Puerto Rico [and] we’re headed there as well.  So, yeah, we have a decent following.”

After the game, a disappointed Mattio expressed nothing but admiration for her in-state rival from Colorado Springs.

“Whether it’s [the] Air Force [Academy] or any military branch, there’s a level of respect [because] they’re serving our country for us. We’re grateful, we’re thankful for the selflessness [of those] student athletes,” said Mattio. “We talk about it to our kids. That our cadets have to get up in the morning [and] they can’t just say I have practice in the afternoon, that’s my workout. Sometimes there’s other things involved that they have to prepare for.”

There are many good reasons for Colorado’s Front Range teams to play each other during the non-conference part of the season. One advantage is saving money on travel and another is reducing wear and tear on the players and coaches.  

“First, we travel a lot so every place we travel to is a flight [in the Big Sky Conference],” Mattio told The Next.  “So, it’s nice that you’re not traveling.”

But the primary benefit of playing locally is to build a sense of community among the players, coaches, and fan bases of the various Front Range programs. JR Payne, head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes, is a big proponent of establishing and nurturing local rivalries.  

“It’s so important to us. We would really love to play every single Colorado team every single year,” Payne told reporters on November 7 after her team defeated UNC in the Buffs’ home opener. “Women’s basketball is growing exponentially throughout the country and … I think we can continue to build it even more with games like this. So we’re excited to get to play Denver in the middle of December and hopefully next year we can keep adding more Colorado teams.”

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Doshia Woods, head coach of the Denver Pioneers, echoes Payne’s sentiments.

“It’s definitely a priority [to play in-state teams],” Doshia told The Next. “You know, we had a closed scrimmage against CSU this year as well. So, there are moments where we try to help each other out.”

The Pioneers, like UNC, struggle for national recognition, but have a philosophy of embracing local matchups during the non-conference part of the season, in part to make it easier for its fans to see the team play.

“Most of our Summit League games, unless they’re at home, our fans can’t necessarily get to. It’s not like you can bus up to North Dakota or bus to anywhere … and make that drive. So trying to provide [access to our fans] and still give our players a road experience is important, and that will be consistent. So, we’ll usually [schedule] two to three [in-state games] a year.”

DU has four non-conference games scheduled against Colorado schools, including a road contest at CU and home tilts in December against UNC and Western Colorado.  

The Pios opened their season at home with a tough, 77-66 upset loss to a local team, Colorado Christian University, a Division II member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC).

Woods believes that Colorado Christian’s players were extra-motivated by the opportunity to prove themselves against a Division I program.

By the same token, when DU travels to Boulder on December 10 to take on the CU Buffs, Woods expects her players to elevate their games.

“Our players are probably going to have a little extra bounce,” Woods explained. “It’s, you know, a big opponent that maybe I could have played here. Let me see how I size up against them. . . . I’m excited they’ll get that experience.”

One important Front Range program, the Colorado State Rams, has not participated lately in playing in-state schools during the non-conference part of the season.

Located in Fort Collins, near the Wyoming border, the Rams have no games in the non-conference part of the season scheduled against in-state rivals. Instead, they have opted for a more nationally-oriented schedule, with contests slated against Georgia, Kent State, Stephen H. Austin, Gonzaga, and Brown of the Ivy League.

It was the same last season for Colorado State, although the Rams did play several Front Range programs during the 2022-23 season.

But according to CSU head coach Ryun Williams, the absence of Front Range opponents on the Rams’ schedule the past two years is more of an anomaly than a long-term strategy.   

“We played UNC a bunch, we used to play DU, but just for whatever reason it doesn’t work,” Williams told The Next. “You know, CU we haven’t played in a while for scheduling conflicts. I think . . . we’ll see those games resume in the near future.”

Williams also revealed that CSU and UNC are scheduled to resume their rivalry next year.  

As for playing CU, Williams agrees it should be a priority, but cautions that CSU’s move to the reconstituted PAC-12 in 2026 could complicate the task. 

“We do need to try to work harder to get [CU] on the schedule,” Williams said. “But it’s going to be more difficult. We’re going to be playing 20 conference games next year, so it’s less non-conference.”

For her part, Buffaloes head coach JR Payne has made it clear that she would like to rebuild the rivalry between CU and CSU, the two flagship programs in the state. 

“We’ve tried to play [CSU] for years – it’s not a game we’ve been able to get,” Payne told The Next. “Hopefully someday. Absolutely [we want to play them]. I think it would be great … Hopefully in the future we can do that.  I think both teams would benefit from it.”