RAPID CITY --- The South Dakota School of Mines women's basketball team will host a pair of non-conference games this weekend for the Lady Hardrockers' home opener at the King Center in Rapid City, S.D. The 'Rockers will welcome Johnson and Wales University from  Colorado on Friday evening followed by an afternoon matchup against Grace University from Nebraska.

The Hardrockers have 2-0 overall record after one weekend of play. SD Mines kicked off the season at the Conference Crossover Classic in Durango, Colo., last Friday and Saturday where SD Mines defeated Eastern New Mexico University, 65-57, and Texas - Permian Basin, 78-72, both members of the Lone Star Conference.

A lot of positives came out of those games, including sophomore Cooper Courtney earning Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors. The 5-foot-6-inch guard scored nine points against Eastern New Mexico and then cashed in for 36 markers against Texas-Permian Basin on Saturday. She converted 11-17 from the field (65 percent) Saturday night and also hit 9-10 from the free throw line as well as added four assists in the victory.

"Cooper had a tremendous weekend offensively and her teammates did a great job of getting her the ball," said Hardrocker women's basketball head coach Ryan Larsen. "Besides scoring, Cooper made plenty of other plays that didn't show up on the stat sheet."

The Hardrockers have a bunch of scoring weapons early in the season as Sami Steffeck is on pace to score 12 points a game for SD Mines and Taylor Molstad is contributing nine points a night while Anna Haugen is providing seven points a night and crashing the boards averaging nine rebounds a game.

Johnson and Wales rolls into Rapid City on a four-game losing streak (1-5). They are averaging 55 points a game and are shooting 33 percent from the field and 25 percent from the three-point line.

Individually, the Lady Wildcats are paced by senior forward Andromeda Sales, who is averaging 13.3 points per game and freshman forward Brianna Aluya who puts up 10. 8 points a night and is averaging 8.6 rebounds each time out.
The Lady 'Rockers have never lost to JWU, posting a 13-0 mark against them all-time. The Hardrockers faceoff against the Wildcats Friday at 5:30 p.m.

Grace University is 4-5 on the year heading into the weekend and will face Black Hills State Friday night before meeting the 'Rockers for the first-time ever. The Royals put up 65.3 points per game while shooting 38 percent from the field and 31 percent from behind the arc.

Grace is led by junior forward Darielle Evans who puts up 16.5 points per game while fellow junior anAlyssa Strickland contributes with 12.5 markers a night. Junior Marisa Brown is the Royals' top rebounder, hauling in 12.5 each game.  
Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. on Saturday against the Royals. Both Friday's game and Saturday's games can be found on Stretch Internet by logging on to: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/sdsmt/