RAPID CITY, S.D. – The South Dakota Mines women's basketball team will look to feed off of their big 27-point win over CSU Pueblo when they return home Wednesday, Jan. 31 against rival Black Hills State University.
The Hardrockers, 5-7 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and Yellow Jackets, 8-4, meet for the 111
th time in their long history, with first tip set for 5:30 p.m. inside Goodell Gymnasium at the King Center.
This will be the second time the teams have met this season, but the first and only time in RMAC play. Black Hills State won the last meeting 64-45 in Spearfish on Nov. 27. In that game BHSU led by just four points heading into the fourth quarter before outscoring the Hardrockers 22-7 to pull away for the victory. Junior
Piper Bauer scored 11 points for the Hardrockers and sophomore
Alexis Backhaus added 10 points.
Black Hills State University
Date/Time: Jan. 31 / 5:30 p.m. MT
Site: Rapid City, S.D.
Arena: Goodell Gymnasium
Series Overall: Series tied 55-55.
Streak: BHSU Won 3
Series at South Dakota Mines (since 2003): BHSU leads 12-9.
Streak at South Dakota Mines: BHSU Won 1
Last Meeting: BHSU won 64-45 in Spearfish, S.D. (11/27/23).
Watch Live: RMAC Network |
www.rmacnetwork.com/sdmines
MANSFIELD CLOSING IN ON DOUBLE-DIGIT SCORING
Sophomore
Savea Mansfield has scored in double figures in four straight games, including 14 points in the win over Pueblo. She also grabbed 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the season. Mansfield, a 5-foot-11 sophomore, is averaging 11.9 points a game in that span. In her last three games, she has hit 16-of-27 from the field and is averaging 9.4 points a game for the season.
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARDS
Redshirt freshman
Morning Grace Spotted Bear is becoming one of the top rebounders in the conference. In four of her last six games she has had double-digit rebounding. In those six games, the 6-foot redshirt freshman has grabbed 62 rebounds, an average of 10.3 boards a game. For the season, she is third on the team in scoring at 6.8 points a game, and her 6.4 rebounds per outing leads the team and is 12
th in the league.
PIPER FROM DOWNTOWN
Junior
Piper Bauer continues to lead the team in scoring at 17.2 points a game, which is sixth in the conference. She is shooting .416 (112-of-269) from the field, 10th best in the conference. She is among the best in the conference from the land of 3, hitting 60-of-146 3-pointers for a .411 percentage, which is third in the RMAC. Her 60 3-pointers rank her fifth in the country and her 146 attempts are 14th in the nation. She is averaging 3.33 3-point goals per game which leads the RMAC and is second in the country. Bauer's 60 3-pointers this season gives her 215 in her career, good for third place all-time for the school. Current SD Mines assistant
Ryan Weiss leads at 276, with Sami Steffeck second at 251.
MAXIMUM COURT TIME
Bauer has sat for only three minutes in her last six games, including playing every minute in four of them, including 45 minutes in the overtime game against Fort Lewis Jan. 5. She has been on the court for 660 minutes in 18 games, an average of 36.7 minutes per game, which ranks her first in the conference and 16th in the country.
HIDALGO COMING ON STRONG
Senior post
Naomi Hidalgo is coming off a season-best 22-point effort in only 23 minutes in the win over CSU Pueblo. Hidalgo was 10-of-17 from the field, hit both of her free throws and grabbed eight rebounds. She has now scored 62 points in her last six games and is averaging 6.5 points and 3.9 rebounds a game for the season.
FREE POINTS
Although the Hardrockers have hit 73% of their free throws in the last three games, they are only 11-of-15 from the line, including 0-for-2 against Westminster and 4-of-5 against CSU Pueblo. Three players are shooting .800 or better for the season. Bauer leads the team at .813 (26-of-32), followed by sophomore
Lauren Herman at .808 (21-of-26) and Mansfield at .800 (28-of-35). As a team, the Hardrockers are shooting .683 (155-of- 227).
SCOUTING BLACK HILLS STATE
Black Hills State is 8-4 in the RMAC and 11-5 overall. The Yellow Jackets have won three straight games – 72-48 over Westminster on the road and home contests last weekend against New Mexico Highlands, 74-52, and against CSU Pueblo, 66-64. Their lone loss in their last six conference games was at Colorado Mesa 53-51. BHSU is currently sitting in sixth place in the league standings.
The Jackets do not have any players averaging in double figures but have seven players scoring at least 6.4 points per game. BHSU is led by 5-11 senior Morgan Hammerbeck at 9.2 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Gracie Haneborg, a 5-8 junior, is scoring 7.9 points a game, while 5-9 junior Kalla Bertram is right behind at 7.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 2.3 steals a game. Ellie Moore, a 6-0 graduate student, is scoring 7.6 points a game, followed by 5-6 graduate student Raven Cournoyer at 7.2 points, 6-1 junior Haylee Weathersby at 6.9 points and 5-10 freshman Jaylen Ostenson at 6.4 points a game. As a team, the Yellow Jackets are scoring 63.1 points a game and leading the RMAC in scoring defense at 56.6 points a game.
UP NEXT
The Hardrockers hit the road to face another rival, Chadron State College, Saturday, Feb. 3 at 1 p.m. in Chadron, Neb.
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.
