RAPID CITY, S.D. --- The South Dakota School of Mines women's basketball team steamrolled the New Mexico State Cowgirls, 71-46, Saturday afternoon during a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference at the King Center in Rapid City.

The Lady Hardrockers took control of the game early and never looked back. SD Mines led by nine after the first quarter, 20-11, and then outscored the visitors, 18-8, to go up by 19 at the half, 38-19.

The Hardrockers continued to pour it on, outscoring NMHU, 33-27, in the second half and were up by as much as 34 points with six and a half minutes left in regulation.

"We played well. It was nice to bounce back from that heartbreaking loss from (Friday) night," said Hardrocker women's head coach Ryan Larsen. "Our kids showed a lot resilience and had a tremendous amount of energy today. They came in with a lot of pep in their step today and it showed with the big win today."

The Hardrockers finished the game, hitting 26-53 attempts to shoot 49 percent from the field, including an impressive 11 made from three-point range. SD Mines converted 8-12 from the free throw line, had 30 rebounds, 19 assists, six steals and five blocked shots.

"I like what we are doing offensively. There is no doubt about it. But there are still some things we can improve on, especially on the defensive end," Larsen added.
The Cowgirls shot 34 percent from the field hitting 19-56 shots, only three from downtown. They were 5-7 from the foul line, had 31 rebounds, 11 assists and nine steals.

Individually for the Hardrockers, freshman Cooper Courtney led the way with 20 points, six from behind the arc, two rebounds and one assist. Fellow freshman Anna Haugen dished in 11 points, five rebounds, three steals and one block. Freshman Molly McCabe contributed with 11 points, three rebounds, one assist and one block. Senior Megan Rohrer added 10 markers, eight rebounds, four assists and one block.

"When we do put a lot of points on the board we are getting some great production out of our bench players," Larsen said. "That is really great to see as some of these injuries have depleted our roster as of late."

The win gives SD Mines a 6-9 overall record and are now 4-6 in the RMAC. The Hardrockers will next travel to Alamosa, Colo., to take on Adams State Friday followed by a tough matchup against Fort Lewis College Saturday in Durango, Colo.