How It Happened

Junior Laura Tyree played the role of hero as Colorado School of Mines (6-2, 4-0) women's basketball knocked off the RMAC preseason favorite Colorado Mesa (5-3, 2-2) in overtime by the final of 63-60 to push its winning streak to six straight on Friday, December 18 in Lockridge Arena.

Laura Tyree put on her superhero cape as she poured in a game-high 24 points – 14 in the second half – which included the game-tying triple to push the game into overtime and then the game-winning three-ball to allow Mines to knockoff the defending RMAC Regular Season Champions.

The heroics started for Tyree at the end of regulation when she bailed the Orediggers out of what was nearly a certain loss. After head coach Brittany Simpson called a timeout with 18 seconds left, Tyree took the inbounds and turned around and drilled the game-tying three at the 14-second mark to send the game into overtime tied at 54.

Now down 59-57 with 52 seconds left in overtime, Tyree came back down and another dagger three-pointer at the top of the arc to put Mines up 60-59. She then gave CSM the 61-59 lead on a free throw which was essentially the game winner. Tyree put the game on ice with pair of free throws with one second remaining to clinch the 63-60 win.

In a game that began very defensively driven, it didn't open well for Mines as they fell behind 10-2 with 3:50 remaining in the opening quarter. The Orediggers started on the comeback trail as freshman Cassidy Budge poured in six of Mines' 10 points in the period.

After Budge laid in another basket to start the second quarter, redshirt-freshman Mikaela Moore gave the Orediggers its first lead at the 8:54 mark. From there, both teams battled nip-and-tuck until the Mavericks ended the half on 7-0 run to take a 26-21 lead into the break.

Then, just as the last few games have for the Orediggers, the third quarter saw both team's offenses open up and combine for 34 points in the quarter. Mines had actually taken a 39-35 lead with 2:18 remaining, but once again CMU on a 7-0 run to stake a 42-29 advantage at the end of the period.

Colorado Mesa continued to grow that advantage as they ended up leading by five (52-47) on Sydney Small's three-pointer with 6:58 remaining. Colorado Mines slowly chipped away at that lead though which set the stage for Tyree's heroics to close out the game.

Notables

-          Laura Tyree's 24 points tonight were a season-high and was one point short of her career high 25. She was 9-of-15 overall with five rebounds.

-          Maybe the most impressive feat about Tyree's huge night was that she only played five minutes in the first after picking up two quick fouls.

-          The last time Mines beat Colorado Mesa was back on January 20, 2012 in a tight 58-54 affair in Lockridge Arena.

-          Also, the last time CSM started 4-0 in league play was during the NCAA Tournament appearance season of 2009-10.

-          For the second time in the past three games, the Orediggers have held an opponent to under 30% shooting from the field. Tonight they held the Mavericks to 27.3% (18-66).

-          Mines outrebounded Mesa 50-41 tonight with Cassidy Budge leading the way a career-high nine.

-          Speaking of Budge she also had a career-high 13 points as powered Mines' big first half run.

Up Next

Mines is back home tomorrow night against conference newcomer Westminster at 5 p.m. as they try to win their seventh straight.