RAPID CITY, S.D. – The South Dakota Mines women's basketball team will be at home for the first time this season with a pair of games this weekend at the King Center. The Hardrockers will host No. 23/16 Colorado School of Mines Friday night at 5:30 p.m. and MSU Denver Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.
GAME INFORMATION
Colorado School of Mines
Date/Time: Dec. 8 / 5:30 PM MT
Site: Rapid City, S.D.
Arena: King Center
Series Overall: Colorado School of Mines leads 11-6.
Streak: Colorado School of Mines Won 7
Last meeting: Colorado School of Mines won in Rapid City, 84-68 (2/10/2023).
Watch Live: RMAC Network | www.rmacnetwork.com/sdmines
MSU Denver
Date/Time: Dec. 9 / 4 PM MT
Site: Rapid City, S.D.
Arena: King Center
Series Overall: MSU Denver leads 11-5.
Streak: MSU Denver Won 5
Last meeting: MSU Denver won in Rapid City, 72-58 (2/3/2023).
Watch Live: RMAC Network | www.rmacnetwork.com/sdmines
Piper From Behind The Arc
Junior Piper Bauer continues to have a hot hand from the outside for the Hardrockers. She leads the team in scoring at 16.3 points a game, seventh in the conference, shooting .393 (42-of-107), but is among the best in the conference and nationally from three-point land, hitting 26-of-61 3-pointers for 42.6 percentage, which is fourth in the RMAC. Her 26 three-pointers made are fifth in NCAA Division II. Last Saturday against Regis, she scored 20 points, hitting 6-of-11 3-pointers.
Savea In The Starting Five
Savea Mansfield, a 5-11 sophomore, got her first start of the season last Saturday against Regis and put up 9 points on 3-of-5 shooting, including one 3-pointer, in 22 minutes. Despite coming off the bench in six of her seven games played, Mansfield is second on the team in scoring at 9.6 points a game with a team-best .491 shooting from the field. She is also tied for second with Lauren Herman in rebounding at 4.0 boards per contest.
Dishing It Out
True freshman Emily Thomas continues to lead the team in assists with 21, averaging 3.0 per game which is 10th in the conference. She is second in minutes played at 26.6 per game. The 5-10 point guard also has 23 rebounds in seven games.
Hitting The Offensive Glass
The Hardrockers are one of the best teams in the RMAC in grabbing offensive rebounds, averaging 11.7 per game to sit fifth in the conference.
Scouting Colorado School of Mines
Colorado School of Mines is 2-0 in the RMAC, just getting past No. 23 Colorado Mesa 89-85 in overtime and stopping Westminster 69-60, both games in Golden, Colo. The Orediggers, ranked 16/23 in the country via the WBCA Coaches and D2CSC polls, are 7-1 on the season, with their lone loss.
The Orediggers finished 24-7 last season and 18-4 in the RMAC, in second place in the regular season standings. In postseason play, Mines finished 2-1 in the RMAC Tournament, beating Colorado Mesa 66-60 and MSU Denver 74-66, but losing 65-61 to No. 1 seed Regis 65-61 in the title game. In the NCAA Tournament, the Orediggers fell to UT Tyler 73-63. Colorado Mines defeated the Hardrockers twice, 70-52 in Golden and 84-68 in Rapid City.
Leading the Orediiggers is 5-foot, 9-inch redshirt senior Ashley Steffeck, the younger sister of former Hardrocker Sami Steffeck. Ashley Steffeck, who has been named RMAC Offensive Player of the Week in the last two weeks, leads the team in scoring at 18.5 points a game and rebounding at 6.0 boards per contest. She also has 27 steals and 34 assists in eight games, also tops on the team. Also scoring in double figures is 5-9 redshirt sophomore Jenna Siebert at 11.9 points a game. Former Sturgis Brown star, 5-9 redshirt senior Loralee Stock, is third in scoring at 8.1 points a game.
Scouting MSU Denver
MSU Denver is 2-5 on the season and 1-1 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The Roadrunners opened league play last weekend in Denver with a 52-47 win over Westminster, but fell to Colorado Mesa Saturday night 63-43.
Last season the Roadrunners finished 16-14 and 13-9 in the RMAC, sixth in the regular-season standings. Denver opened the RMAC Tournament with a 56-50 win over Black Hills State, but fell to No. 2 seed Colorado School of Mines 74-66. MSU Denver swept the Hardrockers, winning 60-59 in Denver and 72-58 in Rapid City.
Mikylah Espinosa, a 5-8 sophomore, leads the team in scoring at 11.1 points a game and is second in rebounding at 5.0 per contest. Brianna Sealy, a 5-11 sophomore, is also scoring in double figures at 10.6 points a game and she leads the team in rebounding at 7.4 per outing. Ashlyn Yow, a 5-6 sophomore, is scoring 9.2 per game and 5-8 junior Mariana Silva Pereira is averaging 8.0 points per game.
Looking Ahead
The Hardrockers return to the road next weekend for two of three straight games away from home. South Dakota Mines will be at CSU Pueblo Friday, Dec. 15 at 5:30 p.m. and at New Mexico Highlands Saturday, Dec. 16 at 5 p.m. The 'Rockers are also at Minot State on Dec. 30 for a non-conference game before returning to action in the new year at home against Fort Lewis on Friday, Jan. 5 and Adams State on Saturday, Jan. 6.
About South Dakota Mines
The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology is a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) and NCAA Division II offering 13 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic programs. The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference is a premier NCAA Division II conference with 15 members, as well as four associate members, located in the states of California, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Utah.
