Rapid City, S.D. --- The South Dakota School of Mines Women's Basketball team will travel Colorado this weekend for two tough Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference matchups. With a banged up roster, the Lady Hardrockers are slated to challenge Colorado School of Mines Friday at 6 p.m. in Golden, Colorado, followed by a tough contest against the University of Colorado Colorado Springs Saturday in a 5:30 p.m. tipoff in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The Lady Orediggers have an overall record of 8-6 and a mark of 5-4 in the RMAC.
Colorado School of Mines has won four of its last five games -- the wins coming against Regis University (65-60), Dixie State (86-81), Adams State (59-48) and most recently Fort Lewis (60-47). The Orediggers' loss came against Westminster (61-50) back on Jan. 4. 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.
Denali Pinto leads the Orediggers in points per game, she is averaging 12.4. She is followed by teammate Raven Herrera who is averaging 10.8 points per game. These two teams have met seven times in the past, the Hardrockers lead this series 4-3.
UCCS enters the weekend in a five-way tie for fifth place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The Mountain Lions are 6-9 overall and are tied with Black Hills State, Regis University, Colorado School of Mines, and Colorado Christian University with a 5-4 conference record.
The Mountain Lions have won three of their last five games, the wins came against St. Edwards (65-57), Dixie State (59-54), and most recently Adams State (77-46). Their losses came against Westminster (75-60) and Fort Lewis (67-50).
Jae Ferrin leads the Mountain Lions in scoring average with 8.5 points per game, Ferrin is followed by Abby Feickert who is averaging 8 points per game.
Anna Davern's 14 blocks this season are the seventh most in the league. She has added 93 points, 49 rebounds and dished out 23 assists.
UCCS ranks in the top half of the league in several statistical categories, including assists (second, 206), rebounds (second, 594), blocked shots (fifth, 46), defensive rebounds per game (sixth, 27), and seventh in the league in blocked shots per game (2.9), free throw percentage (70.3 percent), offensive rebounds per game (11), and rebounds per game (37.1).
The Lady Hardrockers make the trip to Colorado 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 this past weekend.
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.
