RAPID CITY, S.D. --- The South Dakota School of Mines women's basketball team returns home this weekend after playing its last four Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference games on the road. The Lady Hardrockers will welcome University of Colorado Colorado Springs on Friday night and then play host to Colorado School of Mines Saturday evening.

This weekend also mark the last two home games of the 2018-19 regular season for the Lady 'Rockers.
 
The first game of the weekend will be played on Friday February 22^nd at 5:30pm against University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. After closing out their last home games of the regular season, UCCS will play their final three games on the road before post-season begins.
 
The Mountain Lions are tied for fourth place in the league standings with a 12-7 record.  UCCS (13-12) is also tied with CSU-Pueblo and MSU Denver.
 
The Mountain Lions played their last home regular season games this past weekend, posting a split against CSU-Pueblo (L, 67-73) and New Mexico Highlands (W, 71-62). UCCS has remained at or above the .500 mark in conference games this season and have either swept or split all nine back-to-back RMAC series.
 
The Mountain Lions rank in the top half of the league in several statistical categories, including assists (first, 15.0), rebound margin (fifth, +3.9), blocked shots (third, 3.4), free throw percentage (sixth, 71.3 percent), rebounding offense (third, 38.3), and three-point field goal percentage (third, 35.8 percent).
 
Three Mountain Lions are averaging at least 7.5 points per game.  Chelsea Pearson leads the team's offense with 7.8 points per game.  Pearson has made a team high 48 treys, including 11 games with at least three made three-pointers, and three games with at least five treys.  In the Mountain Lions last four home games, Pearson netted 16 threes, including a season high six against Chadron State on Feb. 9.
 
Madi Gaibler and Jae Ferrin are each netting 7.6 points per game.  Ferrin leads the team with 4.9 rebounds per game and has added 43 assists, the third most on the team.  Gaibler is coming off the bench and is averaging nearly 19 minutes per game.  She has grabbed 97 rebounds and stolen the ball 21 times. O'Flannigan has dished out 73 assists this season, the 13^th highest average in the league (2.9).
 
On Saturday the Lady 'Rockers play host to Colorado School of Mines for their final home game of the season. Tip-off is set for 3:30pm.

Colorado School of Mines this season has an overall record of 16-8 with a conference record of 13-6. Their conference record currently puts them in third place in the RMAC standings. The Orediggers have won their last five games coming against New Mexico Highlands (69-38), Chadron State (81-52), Metropolitan State University Denver (69-63), New Mexico Highlands (71-59) and most recently Colorado State University Pueblo (70-54). Their last loss was on January 26^th against Chadron State (76-73).

The Orediggers are led by Denali Pinto who averaging 14.8 points per game and is the team leader in blocks with 14. Raven Herrera comes in second with scoring, averaging 9.8 points per game and leads the team with 42 steals.
South Dakota Mines is sitting in 13^th place in the league standings at 6-13 (9-14 overall).  They have split their last four series and are 6-7 at home this season.  As a team, the Hardrockers are scoring 57.1 points per game and allowing 57.6.
 
Taylor Molstad and Sami Steffeck lead SDSMT offensively with 11.9 points and 11.4 points per game, respectively.  Both have started all 23 games for the Hardrocker.  Molstad has a team high 58 assists while Steffeck has nabbed a team high 45 steals and sunk 63 from downtown. Anna Haugen leads the team in rebounding with 8.6 boards per game. Molstad also averages just over 2.0 assists per game, and that's best on the team as well.

Overall, South Dakota Mines is one of the best teams in the nation when it comes to fouling. The Hardrockers rank No. 4 in the country in fewest total fouls and No. 6 in personal fouls per game. SD Mines is also ranked 26 in Div. II in scoring defense, limiting opponents to just 57.7 points per game.