RAPID CITY, S.D. --- The South Dakota School of Mines women's basketball team is on the brink of qualifying for their first ever Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout postseason tournament.
 
The Lady Hardrockers (11-14 overall) have not quite been able to break through to the next level, going 6-6 in the 2017 calendar year. Over that stretch there have been plenty of heartbreakers, as the Lady Rockers have lost four of those games by four or fewer points.
 
With just two games remaining on the regular-season schedule, SD Mines is 9-11 in the RMAC and currently in a three-way tie with Black Hills State and Colorado Christian for eighth place. It looks like the team that can win two games this weekend will punch their ticket to the postseason.  
 
Friday the Lady 'Rockers will make a trip to Denver, Colo., to take on Regis University. The Rangers (19-6 overall) are ranked seventh in the region and boast a 14-6 conference record. In their previous meeting SD Mines women couldn't keep pace with the Rangers. Regis has the second-best defense in the RMAC, allowing just 59.1 ppg to opponents.
 
"We've got a tough challenge this week. Regis is a really good team and have a chance for a No. 2 seed (in the RMAC Shootout)," said Hardrocker women's basketball head coach Ryan Larsen. "Regis runs a lot of sets, we need to be really prepared and locked in on how we are going to defend."
 
A day after facing one of the best defenses in the RMAC, the SD Mines women will head to Nebraska for a game against Chadron State College – the bottom-of-the-league scoring defense. The Eagles are 6-17 overall and 6-14 in the RMAC after picking up losses in seven of their last eight games.
 
In addition to potentially making the RMAC playoffs the Hardrockers have a little extra motivation to this game, since they fell to the Eagles in overtime, 69-64, last time around in Rapid City.
 
"If we win two games, we have a very good chance of making the RMAC playoffs. We have been here before and it's time for us to take advantage of this," Larsen said. "I like what we are doing right now, our kids have a bunch of confidence."
 
Friday's game tips off at 5 p.m. and Saturday's matchup is slated to start at 5:30 p.m. Watch the game broadcasts and get the livestats on the RMAC Network by logging onto: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/sdsmt/ .