Box Score How It Happened
Behind a career night from Elizabeth Tomon, the Colorado School of Mines (16-5, 14-3) has clinched a spot in the RMAC Tournament for the first time in three seasons with a 63-46 victory at Chadron State.
CSM will advance to the RMAC Tournament for the first time since the 2012-13 season as Elizabeth Tomon propelled them with a career-high 17 points on 6-11 shooting. She also tied her career best with a team-high 11 rebounds.
Mines came out the gate strong as they took a 13-4 lead into the first media timeout at the 3:58 mark of the first quarter. The Orediggers hit six of their first 10 attempts with Courtney Martin and Laura Tyree each chipping in four. CSM took a 17-9 lead to the end of the quarter as they held CSC to only 12.5% shooting.
The hot start continued for Mines in the second period as Elizabeth Tomon came out with the team's first nine points of the quarter to push the lead to 26-11 four minutes in. Tomon continued to lead Mines down the back stretch of the first half as CSM took a 33-22 lead into intermission.
As much as the second quarter started out as the Tomon Show, the third became the Cassidy Budge Show as Budge scored Mines' first eight points in lieu to a 43-24 lead three minutes in. Tomon chipped in another five points and Katie Kuhn two more to give CSM the lead (46-36) at the end of three.
While the Orediggers started out the first three quarters in a blaze, the fourth was much slower as they didn't hit their first field goal until the 5:30 mark, but the defense and rebounding had made up for it as they lead 54-40.
CSM finished out the final 4:28 without Martin and Tyree, but Caitlyn Smith and Budge finished out the game for the 63-46 victory.
Notables
- Needing either a victory or loss by MSU Denver to clinch a spot in the RMAC Tournament, Mines got both as they advance to the conference tournament with five games to go.
- With all three winning tonight, it's a three-team race for the regular season championship as Mines, Black Hills State and CSU-Pueblo each have a 14-3 conference record.
- CSM shot 41% for the game while they held the Eagles to a mere 25%.
- In a rare occurrence, Mines was actually out-rebounded 47-41, and even more rare – 20-9 on the offensive glass.
- Mines scored a total of 16 points in the second quarter, 12 of them came from Elizabeth Tomon who scored the first 10 points of the period to carry the team.
- Cassidy Budge did the same in the third period while giving the team 14 points on the night.
Up Next
Mines will get the return trip from New Mexico Highlands and Western New Mexico at home next weekend on February 12-13. The Orediggers defeated both on the road at the beginning of the New Year.
