Mines (7-5, 4-3 RMAC) vs. Adams State (2-11, 2-5 RMAC) – Friday, 6 p.m. – Lockridge Arena [Live Stats] [Live Video]
Mines (7-5, 4-3 RMAC) vs. Fort Lewis (10-2, 6-1 RMAC) – Saturday, 5 p.m. – Lockridge Arena [Live Stats] [Live Video]
 

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GAME DAY INFO
New in 2019-20, fans can purchase digital tickets online in advance via Mines' new ticketing portal, or buy them at the gate on game day. Ticket pricing remains the same as 2018-19 at $10 for adults and $5 for seniors, military, and children. Mines students, faculty, and staff are free with their Blaster Card. No pets (except service animals) are permitted inside Lockridge Arena.
 
ON THE RMAC NETWORK
Every Mines home game and all RMAC contests can be seen live and for free on the RMAC Network at minesathletics.com/tv. The RMAC Network can also be found on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, and Android TV devices by going to the app store and searching "RMAC".
 
WEEKEND RUNDOWN
This weekend, the Colorado School of Mines Women's Basketball team plays its first home games of the 2020 calendar year. The Orediggers welcome Adams State to Lockridge Arena on Friday evening and Fort Lewis comes to town on Saturday. It also brings Mines through the halfway point of the season. One opponent sits top three in the league rankings, and the other sits near the bottom. Mines is right in the middle, tied for sixth place. With 15 games remaining in RMAC play, every team still has a shot at the RMAC Tournament and no win will come easy.
 
LOOKING BACK
Mines opened the decade on the road last weekend at Westminster and Dixie State. On Friday, the Orediggers toppled the nationally-ranked Griffins by a score of 80-70. Denali Pinto torched WC for 30 points along with two rebounds, one assist and one. Sammy Van Sickle, Courtney Stanton and Ashley Steffeck combined to score 31 points as a trio. Van Sickle also grabbed six rebounds and dished out three assists. McKale Grant turned in a career performance as well, notching nine points, six rebounds, four steals and two assists. On Saturday, Mines rallied back from a 14-point deficit. However, the Orediggers couldn't complete the comeback and fell to Dixie State, 77-72. Pinto poured in another 26 points while Stanton added 23. Van Sickle tallied eight more rebounds, while Steffeck stuffed the defensive stat sheet with four rebounds, three steals, two blocks and three assists. The loss also snapped Mines' four-game winning streak.
 
SCOUTING ADAMS STATE
Adams State only has two wins this season, but both have come in conference play. The Grizzlies earned a 57-45 win over New Mexico Highland's on the opening weekend of RMAC play. Last weekend, ASU defeated Chadron State by a score of 73-58. Both of the Grizzlies' wins took place on their home court. Adams State's average margin of defeat is 24.4 points per loss with all but one loss coming by double digits. Individually, Zakiya Beckles leads ASU in scoring thanks to 11.5 points per game. Marshell Hollins is tops on the team in rebounding with 4.3 boards per game. She also boasts 30 assists, 19 steals and four blocks in 13 games this season. All three of those numbers also lead the Grizzlies. As a team, over 40 percent of Adams State's shots have come from behind the three-point line. Only 27 percent of those long-range shots have gone through the net.
 
URSUS ARCTOS HORRIBILIS
Yeah, say that five times fast with your mouth full of cheese puffs. If you chose to read this section instead of skipping over that combination of letters, we salute you. The Ursus Arctos Horribilis is how scientists choose to say Grizzly bear, or Grizzlies, which is also the nickname for Adams State Athletics. Those who kept up with the team last year know that the appropriate term is North American brown bear, but enough with the semantics. Did you know that North American brown bears are officially considered a threatened species? At one point, approximately 50,000 grizzled bears roamed North America, but that number has since dropped to about 1,800 bears in the lower 48 states. The creature can weigh up to 800 pounds, nearly half a ton, and actually varies in color from light cream to brown or black. The distinguishing feature of the North American brown bear is a hump on its back which is a mass of muscles used for digging. These are solitary creatures that live for about 30 years in the wild and 40 years in captivity. Females cannot reproduce until they are four or five years old. The gestation period is 180-270 days. Interestingly enough, female bears can give birth to cubs while sleeping. So there's that. We could go on, but those seem like enough interesting facts for today.
 
SCOUTING FORT LEWIS
Last season, Fort Lewis finished the year 13-15 overall while going 9-13 in RMAC play and missed the RMAC Tournament. In 2019-20, FLC is 10-2 and 6-1 in league action. The Skyhawks put a three-game winning streak on the line at UCCS on Friday night before coming up to Golden on Saturday. Fort Lewis' only two losses this year came at home to Eastern New Mexico and on the road at Black Hills State. Other non-conference action featured Northern New Mexico College, University of the Southwest and a non-RMAC affair against New Mexico Highlands. Jordan Vasquez leads a trio of double-digit scorers for the Skyhawks with 11.3 points per game. She's also tops on the glass thanks to 7.3 rebounds per game and ranks #9 in the nation in offensive rebounds per game. Katrina Chandler owns 49 assists on the year for an average just over 4.0 assists per game and ranks #17 in DII in assist-to-turnover ratio. As a team, FLC ranks #23 in the nation in fewest turnovers per game and #10 in the country in rebounds per game. The combined record of teams FLC has played so far is 42-101.
 
WHAT'S A SKYHAWK
It is a question that has been asked and answered before, and it is one that probably should be answered again. Fort Lewis's nickname is the Skyhawks. Folks who are not in the know would simply respond that a Skyhawk is a bird, and those folks would be half right. In fact, it would seem there is no real animal that bears the name Skyhawk, but there are a whole lot of airplanes under the same moniker. So yes, it's a bird, but not a real bird. Some reading this may be familiar with the Cessna 172 Skyhawk which is a single-engine four-set light airplane. Or the ground-attack jet known as the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk. Real aircraft nerds may even know about the Seibel S-4, a helicopter evaluated by the United States Army under the designation YH-24 Sky Hawk. Those who know very little about aircraft (like the author) may have also heard of or even ridden in a Buick Skyhawk between the years of 1975-1989 or a Studebaker Sky Hawk in 1956. However, to this writer's knowledge, nobody can say they've ever seen a winged, feathered Skyhawk soaring through the skies. And now you know.
 
LOCKRIDGE ARENA
Fondly referred to as "The Lock", Mines' home court for volleyball, men's basketball and women's basketball features seating for 3,000 at Oredigger home athletics events. The venue has also twice hosted the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball South Central Regional Tournament. Additionally, Lockridge Arena hosts numerous major campus events and has been graced by the presence of Barack Obama, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye and many others.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Mines is 24-34 in the all-time series against Adams State. Despite trailing overall, the Orediggers have defeated the Grizzlies in nine straight meetings. Mines' nine-game winning streak dates back to Feb. 18, 2012. The Orediggers last met ASU on Jan. 11, 2019 in Alamosa, Colo. Mines won the game 59-48  thanks to 13 points off the hand of Denali Pinto and 10 more from Courtney Stanton. Against Fort Lewis, Mines boasts back-to-back victories but trails the all-time series by a margin of 19-36. In fact, the Orediggers are 4-2 against FLC since the start of the 2015-16 season. The last meeting between Mines and Fort Lewis led to a 60-47 victory for the Orediggers. Pinto dropped 16 points with seven rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal.
 
RMAC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
On Monday, Denali Pinto was named the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week thanks to her performances in Utah. It marked Pinto's first weekly award this season and third of her career. The sophomore finished the road trip to Westminster and Dixie State averaging 28 points and four rebounds per game. Her 30 points at WC helped Mines knock off the #12-ranked Griffins. The sophomore also scored 26 points at Dixie State on Saturday. That performance moved her to #1 in the RMAC with 18.9 points per game. Pinto shot over 50 percent from the field for the weekend and became the third Oredigger ever with multiple games of 30 points or more.
 
THE CHARITY STRIPE
Much has been told of Denali Pinto's acumen at the free-throw line and not much has changed. The sophomore from Boulder, Colo., still ranks #6 in the nation in free-throw percentage (92.2). She's also #7 in the country in free throws made (83). However, Pinto isn't the only Oredigger inclined towards charity. Courtney Stanton's free-throw percentage is 87.5 thanks to a mark of 35-40 on the year. That percentage ranks #32 in NCAA Division II. Together, Pinto and Stanton have Mines ranked #7 in the nation in team free-throw percentage. Overall, the Orediggers boast a mark of 79.5 percent at the stripe. That ranks #1 in the RMAC, as does 198 free throws made in the 2019-20 season.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
After their trip to Utah, the Orediggers return home Jan. 10-11 for games against Adams State and Fort lewis. Live stats and video of the games will be available at www.minesathletics.com.
 
Keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all season long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.