RAPID CITY, S.D. --- The South Dakota School of Mines women's basketball team is off to a 4-1 start for the 2017-18 season. The Lady Hardrocker open Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play this weekend in the friendly confines of Goodell Gymnasium.

With the non-conference schedule in the rearview mirror, the Lady 'Rockers have made teams around the regions to take notice as SD Mines has received votes the past two weeks in the NCAA Div. II South Central Region rankings.

The Hardrockers begin league play ranked fourth in the RMAC standings. Colorado Mesa (7-0), Black Hills State (6-0) and Fort Lewis College (5-0) are all undefeated. It is those strong starts that will lay the foundation early in the season for SD Mines to make another push once playoffs roll around at the end of February.

The Lady 'Rockers have a well-balanced offense as RMAC play opens and the roster shows a lot of depth.

Sophomore Cooper Courtney currently leads the team in scoring, averaging 12.6 points per game, while fellow sophomore Anna Haugen is contributing with 10.4 ppg and 9 rebounds each game (ranked fourth in the conference with 42 total). Freshman Emma Pearce is adding 10.3 points a game with sophomore Sami Steffeck (9.8) junior Taylor Molstad (8.6 ppg) and senior Payton Humpal (7.8) all getting great point production.

SD Mines will face MSU Denver Friday night in a 5:30 p.m. match. The Roadrunners have won four-straight games and are now 4-2 on the year. In their last two games the Lady Roadrunners have held their opponents to under 90 points, combined, while scoring 130 of their own. They held William Jewell to a mere 35 points in their most recent outing.

Individually, MSUD is led by Georgia Ohdorf in scoring, averaging 15.3 points per game --- which ranks fifth overall in the conference. Teammates J'Nae Squires-Horton is cashing in for 11.5 ppg, and Jaelynn Smith getting 10.2 ppg.

"They are a lot like us. They return all five starters from last year and they have a very potent offensive team," said Hardrocker women's basketball head coach Ryan Larsen.  "We are going to need a tremendous individual defensive performance. We're going to have to hunker down and guard the ball and pick up our defensive intensity."

On Saturday, the 'Rockers will play host to the University of Colorado Colorado Springs in a 3:30 p.m. meeting. The Mountain Lions enter the weekend with an 0-5 mark after taking some lumps from talented opponents (West Texas A&M, Wayne State (Neb.), Fort Hays State (Kan.), and the Nebraska-Kearney).

UCCS is not the same team they were a year ago. The Mountain Lions lost one of the best players in the RMAC from last season to graduation (Brittney Hernandez) along with some other top performers that were all averaging double-figure in scoring.
This year's version has just one player that collects points as Shanah Leaf leads the team, scoring 11.2 points a game while Tatum Tellin is second on the team averaging 6.4 markers a night.

"They have lost about 85 percent of their scoring from the previous years," Larsen said. "We've never beaten Colorado Springs. We now have an opportunity to do that."