How It Happened

With the defensive dominance of Courtney Martin and the offensive excellence of Emily Bailey, the Colorado School of Mines clinches their first ever outright RMAC Championship with an 81-70 victory over Colorado Christian in the regular season finale on Friday, February 26.

In a packed and roaring Lockridge Arena, Mines (21-5, 19-3) dominated down low with a staggering 50-26 advantage on points in the paint to defeat an energized CCU (18-8, 15-7) squad.

Up 68-66 with 4:03 left in the game, Courtney Martin had an emphatic block of CCU star Kate Louthan to deny a would be basket. The block ignited a fastbreak bucket for Emily Bailey on the other end. Then on the very next possession, Martin again blocked another shot which lead to another Bailey basket, and just like that CSM was up 72-66.

From there, CSM buckets from Laura Tyree and Bailey as well as free throws from Anna Kollmorgen closed out the victory.

The Orediggers and Cougars came out firing on all cylinders in the first period as Mines took a 24-21 lead at the end of the quarter. Five different Orediggers scored in the period with Laura Tyree and Emily Bailey leading the way with eight and seven points, respectively.

CSM came out in the second quarter and appeared as they were going to pull away as they got out by as much as 37-25 midway through the period. Unfortunately, Colorado Christian closed out the half on a 16-0 run to take a 41-37 lead into the break.

The halftime break didn't slow the wide open pace of the first half as Mines opened the third quarter on a 16-4 run to take a 53-45 lead midway through the period. The run was punctuated by a corner three pointer from Anna Kollmorgen.  While CCU would close the gap a bit, Mines still took a 62-58 lead into the fourth quarter.

Unsurprisingly, the tempo slowed down considerably in the fourth quarter as both teams defenses clamped down with each bucket's importance growing in significance.

Notables

- The outright RMAC Championship is the first in the 40-year history of the program. Mines' one other title was a shared one back during the 1979-80 season.

- Not only did the Orediggers dominate CCU in the paint, but they also got a decisive advantage off the bench. Mines outscored Colorado Christian 34-11 in bench points with Emily Bailey pouring in a career-high 25 points on 11-17 shooting.

- Also scoring a new career high was Anna Kollmorgen with 21 points on 6-10 shooting from the field. She also set a new career-best with seven made free throws.

- Courtney Martin turned in a huge double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds to go along with two monster blocks late in the fourth quarter.

- Martin's 12 points tonight puts her 19 points away from 1,000 for her career.

- Mines also out-rebounded CCU 49-35.

Up Next

Mines will now turn its attention to the RMAC Shootout where they will host Fort Lewis College on Tuesday, March 1 in the quarterfinals of the tournament.