RAPID CITY, S.D. – The South Dakota Mines women's basketball team will conclude its three-game home series in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play Friday, Jan. 12 at the King Center.
The Hardrockers will host Western Colorado beginning at 5:30 p.m. at Goodell Gymnasium. South Dakota Mines is 3-5 in league play coming off its 67-62 win last Saturday against then No. 22 Adams State University.
Western Colorado University
Date/Time: Jan. 12 / 5:30 p.m. MT
Site: Rapid City, S.D.
Arena: King Center
Series Overall: South Dakota Mines leads 7-5
Streak: South Dakota Mines has won 1
Series at South Dakota Mines: Series tied at 2-2
Streak at South Dakota Mines: Western Colorado has won 2
Last Meeting: South Dakota Mines won 54-52 in Gunnison, Colo. (01/7/23).
Watch Live: RMAC Network | www.rmacnetwork.com/sdmines
DOUBLE-DOUBLE-TROUBLE
Redshirt freshman Morning Grace Spotted Bear is coming off two straight double-doubles in her young career. Friday against Fort Lewis, the 6-foot redshirt freshman had 12 points and 12 rebounds. Saturday in the win over Adams State, she finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds. In her last five games she is averaging 10.6 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. For the season and with just five starts in 13 games, Spotted Bear is averaging 6.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.
CAREER GAME
Sophomore Lauren Herman came off the bench against Fort Lewis with a career-high 20 points, hitting 4-of-10 3-pointers and 8-of-8 from the free-throw line. She went into the game 7-of-36 from beyond the arc. Herman has also grabbed 22 rebounds in her last three games.
STARTING FAST
The Hardrockers scored over 20 points in each of their first quarters last weekend against Fort Lewis and Adams State. On Friday, South Dakota Mines led 21-16, shooting 57 percent from the field (8-of-14, 3-of-8 3-pointers), and on Saturday the 'Rockers led 24-9 at the end of the first period, shooting 59 percent from the field (10-of-17, 4-of-7 3-pointers).
'CHARITY FROM THE STRIPE
In the last three games, the Hardrockers are shooting .757 (72-of-95) from the free-throw line. In that game span, junior Piper Bauer is 17-of-18 from the line and 24-of-30 (.800) on the season. Sophomore Savea Mansfield is 10-of-10 in the last five games and 24-of-29 (.828) for the season and Herman is 15-of-20 (.750) and 21-of-26 for the season (.808). On the season, the Hardrockers are shooting .697 (140-of-201) from the free-throw line.
PIPER FROM DEEP
Bauer is coming off of a career-high 30 points against Adams State and continues to lead the team in scoring at 16.5 points a game, seventh in the conference. She is shooting .384 (81-of-211) from the field, eighth in the conference. She is among the best in the conference from the land of 3, hitting 45-of-118 3-pointers for a .381 percentage, which is fifth in the RMAC. Her 45 3-pointers rank her fourth in the country and her 118 attempts are seventh in the nation. She is averaging 3.2 3-pointers goals per game, which ranks her second in the RMAC and fifth in the country.
COURT TIME
In the two games last weekend, including the overtime contest with Fort Lewis, Bauer played all 85 minutes. She has been on the court for 503 minutes in 14 games, an average of 35.9 minutes per game, which ranks her first in the conference. Her 35.9 minutes a game is over six minutes more than any other Hardrocker, with senior Madelyn Heiser second on the team, averaging 29.2 per game.
GRABBING THE OFFENSIVE BOARDS
As a team, the Hardrockers are sixth in the conference in offensive rebounding with 165, an average of 11.7 per game. Heiser and Spotted Bear both have 23 offensive boards to lead the team and Mansfield has 21.
SCOUTING WESTERN COLORADO
Western Colorado is 0-6 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play and 2-9 overall. Last weekend the Mountaineers fell to the University of Colorado Colorado Springs 66-47. It was the lone game of the weekend for Western. Before the holiday break, the Mountaineers faced Utah State University in Logan, Utah in an exhibition and defeated the Division I Aggies 51-49. Western's two victories that counted this season were early in their schedule, 64-58 over Eastern New Mexico University and 63-52 over Northern New Mexico College.
The Mountaineers are led by 6-foot-2 junior Rachel Cockman, who is scoring 17.6 points a game, good for fourth in the RMAC and 8.8 rebounds a game, fifth in the league. Cockman is shooting .482 from the field (68-of-41), third in the conference and .770 from the free-throw line (47-of-61), 10th in the RMAC. She has also hit 11 3-pointers this season. Jayda Maves, a 5-9 freshman, is scoring 12.2 points a game and is hitting .341 on her 3-pointers (28-of-82). Ivey Schmidt, a 5-10 junior, is scoring 6.5 points a game, while grabbing 5.2 rebounds a game, second on the team.
COMING UP
The Hardrockers hit the road for a pair of games, Friday, Jan. 19 at Westminster in Salt Lake City, Utah at 5 p.m. and Colorado Mesa in Saturday, Jan. 20 in Grand Junction, Colo., at 5:30 p.m.
Fans can find the latest on South Dakota Mines women's basketball all year long on X and Instagram (@hardrockerwbb), while also following on Facebook at South Dakota Mines Women's Basketball. The latest on South Dakota Mines athletics can be found by following us on X at @GoHardrockers, hardrockerathletics on Instagram and Hardrocker Athletics on Facebook.
ABOUT SOUTH DAKOTA MINES
South Dakota Mines 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.
