GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Colorado School of Mines Women's Basketball team closed its 2019-20 campaign on Friday night with a 59-47 loss to #24-ranked Colorado Mesa inside Brownson Arena.
 
Mines fell despite three Orediggers scoring in double digits. Sammy Van Sickle led the team in nearly every category with 13 points, seven rebounds, three steals, three assists and two blocks. Ashley Steffeck and Courtney Stanton provided 10 points apiece. Steffeck matched Van Sickle with seven rebounds and Denali Pinto matched Van Sickle with three assists while adding eight points and five rebounds. Liz Holter matched the team's best defensively by notching three steals as well.
 
Fourth-seeded Mines (19-10) and top-seeded Colorado Mesa (25-5) canceled each other out in shooting percentage while the Orediggers held the edge in blocks and steals by margins of 4-2 and 7-6, respectively. However, the biggest difference came in the Mavericks' 17 points off the bench and 17 assists. Rebounding also came out nearly even, but Mines received no scoring from its bench and only converted four points off of turnovers. With the win, CMU advances to the RMAC Tournament Championship game to face the winner of Westminster and Dixie State. It marks the second straight year the Orediggers have advanced to the semifinals before bowing out of the tournament.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
As the sun set on a balmy, comfortable day in Grand Junction, Colo., fans began to line up for tickets to the 2020 RMAC Tournament semifinals between the league's #1 offense and #1 defense. While most of the fans wore the maroon, yellow and white of the hosting Mavericks, there were others sporting the navy and gray of the Orediggers. Either way, both rooting crowds were granted a thrilling battle early as Mines and Mesa went basket-for-basket through the first 20 minutes.
 
Seven points off the hand of Van Sickle led Mines through the first two quarters, but the home team rode 13 points from its own Daniella Turner to a 26-23 halftime advantage. The first-half breakdown featured the Orediggers winning the opening quarter by a margin of 16-11 while the Mavericks took the second quarter, 15-7. Unfortunately for the visitors, Colorado Mesa carried the defensive pressure into the third quarter where CMU held Mines to just six points. That performance allowed CMU to push its lead out to 20 points.
 
Just as the raucous home fans started to assume the game was all over, the visitors burst into the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run. Mines held Mesa scoreless for more than six minutes and scored 10 unanswered points to cut the Orediggers' deficit to 49-39. Van Sickle and Steffeck led a majority of the charge by combining for seven points. Steffeck even kept it a 10-point margin by draining a three-point basket at the 2:17 mark in the final period. But that would be the closest Mines would get. The Mavericks closed out by going 4-for-4 at the free-throw line and punching their ticket to the next round of the tournament.
 
COACH'S COMMENT
"Tonight, Colorado Mesa really put pressure on us and guarded really hard," said Mines Head Coach Brittany Simpson. "That ultimately caused to struggle to score, but we battled."
 
NOTABLES
- Mines has earned a top-four seed in the RMAC Tournament for three straight years and advanced to the semifinals in back-to-back seasons.
- Friday gave Pinto 578 points for the season which establishes the Orediggers' new single-season scoring mark.
- Additionally, Pinto's 161 free throws are a Mines single-season record as is her 19.9 points per game. Her 77 three-pointers rank #2 in program history.
- Heidi Hammond officially closed her Oredigger career as the program's all-time leader in single-season and career three-point percentage.
- Holter closed the campaign as Mines' first player with 100 assists in a season since Laura Tyree set the record in 2014-15. Holter's 106 assists rank #4 in the Oredigger record book.
- Mines dropped two games to Colorado Mesa in 2019-20 by an average of 8.5 points as CMU led the RMAC in scoring margin.
- Head Coach Brittany Simpson is 131-98 following her eighth year at the helm.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
Mines enters the offseason losing just one senior to graduation while returning 12 letter winners. Watch for more on the women's basketball team at www.minesathletics.com.
 
Fans can follow Mines Women's Basketball on social media at @MinesWBB. Fans can also follow all of Mines Athletics at www.minesathletics.com or on social media at @MinesAthletics.