Mines (8-6, 5-4 RMAC) vs. South Dakota Mines (5-8, 2-7 RMAC) – Friday, 6 p.m. [Live Stats] [Live Video]
Mines (8-6, 5-4 RMAC) vs. Black Hills State (9-4, 5-4 RMAC) – Saturday, 5 p.m. [Live Stats] [Live Video]
ON THE RMAC NETWORK
Every Mines home game and RMAC road game can be seen live and for free on the RMAC Network at minesathletics.com/tv. The RMAC Network can also be found on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, and Android TV devices by going to the app store and searching "RMAC".
COMIN' IN HOT
After an up-and-down start to 2019, the Colorado School of Mines Women's Basketball team has put together a three-game win streak as it returns home Friday and Saturday to host South Dakota Mines and Black Hills State. Mines currently sits in a five-way tie for fifth place in the RMAC standings, just one game out of third place and the second-best record in the league. The Orediggers win streak started at home two weeks ago against Dixie State and they will look to extend it at home with the advantage of playing inside Lockridge Arena.
ROAD-TRIP REVIEW
Last weekend, Mines journeyed to Alamosa and Durango to face Adams State and Fort Lewis. The Orediggers won both games by double digits, defeating ASU 59-48 and FLC 60-47. The win over Fort Lewis marked Mines' first win in Durango since the 2015-16 season.
Denali Pinto led the scoring effort in both games with 13 points in Alamosa and 16 more in Durango.
Courtney Stanton also scored in double digits against Adams State while
Raven Herrera and
Anna Kollmorgen made it a party at Fort Lewis. Mines finished the weekend shooting 81 percent from the free-throw line while outrebounding its opponents 85-59.
SCOUTING SOUTH DAKOTA MINES
South Dakota Mines makes the trip south with an overall record of 5-8 and a conference mark of 2-7. The Hardrockers have dropped three of their last four contests, but most recently picked up a 66-60 win over Colorado Christian in Rapid City, S.D. Also of note is SDSMT's narrow loss (66-61) to Westminster who is currently 9-0 in RMAC play and atop the conference standings. As a team, South Dakota Mines averages 59.2 points per game and holds opponents to 58.4 points per game. Taylor Molstad leads the offense with 10.1 points per game. Anna Haugen is tops on the glass with 7.8 rebounds per game. Haugen also coordinates the offense via her 30 assists on the season. Nationally, SDSMT has the second-least fouls in all of NCAA Division II with 155 on the season and the fourth-least personal fouls per game, averaging 11.9.
WHAT'S A HARDROCKER?
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology uses Hardrockers as its nickname which refers to a miner who specializes in the extraction of harder minerals as opposed to coal or softer sediment. Grubby the Miner is their mascot. However, the athletic teams were originally named the Longhairs when the first football team formed in 1895. Despite a variety of connotations and denotations, "longhair" is defined by Dictionary.com as "an intellectual" or, "a person, often gifted, who is very interested in or devoted to the arts". The school eventually switched to the Hardrockers which is a miner engaged in or skilled at working hard rock as distinct from coal or sedimentary deposits. SDSMT transitioned to NCAA Division II in 2013 and accepted an invitation to the RMAC in 2014.
SCOUTING BLACK HILLS STATE
Black Hills State entered the 2018-19 season as the coaches' favorite to win the RMAC regular-season title. The Yellow Jackets have also been nationally-ranked for much of the season. However, three straight losses have BHSU out of the national polls and potentially out of the RMAC postseason at 9-4 overall and 5-4 in conference play. Black Hills State is currently averaging 67 points per game while limiting opponents to 61.3 points per game. Morgan Ham leads the offense with 14.9 points per contest which also ranks #5 in the conference. The Yellow Jackets' top rebounder is Katie Messler who pulls do 6.5 boards per game. Julia Seamans oversees it all with 44 assists on the year. She also has 19 steals and 32 three-pointers. Nationally, BHSU is #20 in DII in three-point field-goal percentage, converting 37.5 percent of its shots from long range.
DON'T CALL 'EM BEES
Black Hills State University claims Yellow Jacket as the nickname for its athletics teams. Sometimes mistakenly called bees, yellow jackets are actually wasps. Specifically, yellow jackets are referred to as social wasps meaning they form colonies, but nest above ground. While bees are only capable of stinging once, wasps can sting repeatedly and painfully. Yellow Jacket colonies/nests can reach sizes up to 4,000-5,000 workers. Their diet consists of fruits, nectar and tree sap. While the two-word spelling has become popular over time, the proper entomological spelling is as a single word, yellowjacket.
LOCKRIDGE ARENA
Fondly referred to as "The Lock", Mines' home court for volleyball, men's basketball and women's basketball features seating for 3,000 at Oredigger home athletics events. The venue has also twice hosted the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball South Central Regional Tournament. Additionally, Lockridge Arena hosts numerous major campus events and has been graced by the presence of Barack Obama, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye and many others.
SERIES HISTORY
Mines is 3-4 in the all-time series against South Dakota School of Mines and 4-5 all-time versus Black Hills State. The Orediggers and Hardrockers first met in 1999. The result was an 83-66 victory for Mines. Over the last two seasons, Mines has split the series 2-2 going 1-1 inside Lockridge Arena and 1-1 in Rapid City. The series against Black Hills State began in 2012 with a 67-59 win for the Orediggers. Mines also won last season's showdown, 83-74 – breaking a five-game losing streak against the Yellow Jackets. The duo of
Anna Kollmorgen and
Cassidy Budge combined for 25 points in the win and Kollmorgen set a career high in assists with eight.
HERRERA FOR THREE!
Through the first 34 games of her career, redshirt sophomore
Raven Herrera attempted exactly two three-point baskets and made neither of them. However, Herrera is now 3-for-3 from long range in her last three games, shooting 75 percent on the season and 60 percent for her career. The experts are saying not to bank on this trend continuing, but fans can look to
Heidi Hammond and
Cassidy Budge to continue filling it up for Mines. Hammond leads the Orediggers with 24 baskets from long range this season and is shooting 40 percent on the year. Budge boasts 161 made three-point baskets in her career and just went 2-for-2 at Adams State. As a team, Mines has dropped 91 baskets from behind the arc at a rate of 35 percent for the 2018-19 season. That percentage also happens to rank #41 in all of NCAA Division II.
GOOD ON THE GLASS
So far this season, Mines is plus 8.0 in rebounding margin. This number ranks #26 in DII and #1 in the RMAC. The Orediggers have outrebounded all but one opponent this season (Western Colorado). Mines' biggest advantage was plus 34 (66-32) at home against Colorado Christian. The Orediggers are also #1 in the RMAC in rebounding offense (42.7) and offensive rebounds (14.5) while sitting #2 in defensive rebounds (28.2). Individually,
Nicole Archambeau and
Raven Herrera lead Mines' expertise on the glass as both have over 100 rebounds on the year. Archambeau is #5 in the league with 7.8 boards per game while Herrera ranks #2 on offensive rebounds per game with 3.9.
FAMILY FEUD
Well, there is no feud yet but there will be. Sami Steffeck is a junior guard for South Dakota Mines. She averages 9.2 points per game with 32 three-pointers on the season, ranking #3 in the RMAC in three-point field-goal percentage and three-point field-goals per game. Her younger sister, Ashley Steffeck signed to play basketball for coach Simpson at Colorado School of Mines this fall. Meaning, the Steffeck sisters will potentially be facing off on the court next season in RMAC play. Hailing from Windsor, Colo., and Fossil Ridge High School, Ashley Steffeck entered her senior season in high school averaging 12.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.9 steals and 2.4 assists per game.
RMAC TIDBITS
Prior to the Jan. 18-19 slate of games, there are 13 RMAC contests remaining in the regular season. Colorado Mesa and Westminster are both undefeated in conference play at 9-0. Five teams are tied for fifth place at 5-4. If the season ended today, Mesa, Westminster, Western Colorado and CSU-Pueblo would host Mines, Black Hills State, Regis, Colorado Christian or UCCS with one of those five left out of the postseason. Dixie State leads the league in scoring at 73.8 points per game. Colorado Mesa leads the league in defense, allowing just 51.4 points per game. Colorado Mesa also owns the scoring margin, winning by 15.2 per contest.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Orediggers' next action features MSU Denver in Denver on Jan. 25 at Chadron State in Nebraska on Jan. 26. Live stats and video will be available at MinesAthletics.com.
