RAPID CITY, S.D. --- The South Dakota Mines women's basketball team has endured a lot this season to get to where they are right now --- a return trip to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference post-season tournament.
 
And here the Hardrockers are. The No. 6 seed in the RMAC tourney facing Western Colorado University on Tuesday night in Gunnison, Colorado.
 
During this strange season, the Hardrockers have split with Western Colorado, losing a non-conference bout against them back in early January, 79-72, and then handing the Mountaineers their first loss of the season the very next night, 72-68, in a conference matchup.
 
The 'Rockers head into the tournament with an 11-8 overall record and 11-7 mark in the conference. The team is averaging 65.4 ppg while opposing teams are posting 62.2 ppg. SDM is shooting 41 percent from the field and hitting 36 percent of three-pointers attempted.
 
Individually, South Dakota Mines will be without the service of leading scorer Ryan Weiss (17.2 ppg), who suffered a season-ending injury two weeks ago against Chadron State. Naomi Hidalgo puts up 8 pgg and 6.3 rpg to lead the 'Rockers while Michaela Shaklee adds 7.9 ppg, Makenna Bodette contributes with 6.8 ppg and Anna Combalia ads 6.2 ppg.
 
Looking at Western Colorado University, the Mountaineers closed out the season with a 13-4 overall record and 12-4 mark in the RMAC. They had a rough end to the season, after leading the conference standings for most of the year, WCU went 2-3 to close out the schedule, falling to Westminster College (71-53), Colorado Mesa (58-43), and Colorado School of Mines (63-59). That dropped them down to the third seed for the RMAC tourney.
 
On paper, the Hardrockers are matched pretty evenly with Western as the Mountaineers put up 68.2 ppg and allow opposing teams to post 61.2 ppg. They are shooting 42 percent from the field and are 37 percent on three-pointers attempted.
 
Individually Hannah Cooper leads the way for the Mountaineers with 16.7 ppg, Emmery Wagstaff cashes in for 13.3 ppg, Samantha Coleman adds 12.5 ppg and Mikaela Parker contributes with 9.2 ppg. That crew has started all 17 games for WCU.
 
The RMAC quarterfinal game is slated for a 6 p.m. tipoff. No fans will be allowed, but the game will be streamed live on the Hardrocker Network by logging onto www.gorockers.com.