#18 Mines (14-3, 13-3 RMAC) at Adams State (3-9, 3-9 RMAC) – Friday, 5:30 p.m. – Alamosa, Colo. [Live Stats] [Live Video]
 

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REGULAR SEASON FINALE
This weekend marks the final two days of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's regular season for basketball. The Colorado School of Mines Women's Basketball team will close it out earlier than most as the Orediggers head to Alamosa, Colo., to face Adams State. Mines' true finale was supposed to be on Saturday at CSU Pueblo, but that game was canceled which leaves the Grizzlies as the Orediggers' final opponent before the postseason. After a 1-1 outing last weekend, Mines looks to enter the RMAC Tournament with back-to-back wins as they face an ASU squad that is 1-5 in their last six games.
 
STILL NO SPECTATORS
The Orediggers announced this month that the policy of spectators not being allowed at home games will continue both for winter's indoor sports and for outdoor sports to start the spring. Additionally, the RMAC announced that fans will not be allowed at any of conference championships for winter sports. Mines Athletics will continue to re-evaluate this policy for home games in the future as conditions allow. In the meantime, all games home and away are streamed live and for free on the RMAC Network, which is also available on the AppleTV, Roku, and AmazonFire app stores.
 
BE PREPARED FOR ANYTHING
With the regular season coming to a close, the changes are not guaranteed to stop for Mines women's basketball. Even with the postseason on the horizon, Orediggers need to be prepared for anything. That being said, the changes coming have a bit more certainty. For example, Saturday's game is canceled instead of postponed. The same is true with all other outstanding games from earlier in the season. Those have been declared as canceled and no contests as well. As with the regular season, any postseason changes will be announced at www.minesathletics.com and on Twitter at @MinesWBB and @MinesAthletics.
 
LAST WEEKEND
Last Friday and Saturday, Mines hosted Westminster and Colorado Mesa at Lockridge Arena. The first game of the weekend was a heartbreaking, 67-62 loss to WC that snapped the Orediggers' eight-game win streak. Courtney Stanton scored 19 points as Mines nearly rallied back from a 16-point deficit in the third quarter. Raven Herrera also added 11 points while Sammy Van Sickle grabbed nine rebounds. The home team bounced back in a big way on Saturday as the Orediggers scored a dominant, 70-51 win over CMU. Denali Pinto led all players with 19 points as Mines earned its first regular-season sweep of the Mavericks since 1981. Additionally, Ashley Steffeck and Van Sickle added 12 points apiece. Steffeck also racked up eight rebounds, six steals, five assists and two blocks while Van Sickle added five blocks of her own.
 
SCOUTING ADAMS STATE
Adams State welcomes Mines to Alamosa, Colo., as the Grizzlies find themselves amidst a two-game skid. One of the last two ASU losses was a 88-85 overtime heartbreaker against Fort Lewis in Durango, Colo. The host's three wins on the season came against Fort Lewis, Black Hills State and CSU Pueblo. Individually, Laura Gutierrez leads ASU with 11.8 points per game. Angelline Nageak is right behind touting 11.0 points per game. Kaitlyn Bell is tops on the glass thanks to 4.6 rebounds per game. Nageak also averages 3.0 assists per game. Four Grizzlies boast over 20 steals each as ASU ranks 18th in the nation in steals per game at 11.5 per contest. Mines can certainly own the boards, but Adams State could prove disruptive on defense.
 
URSUS ARCTOS HORRIBILIS
We would wager that you can't 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 in the past 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.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Friday marks the 60th all-time meeting between Mines and Adams State in women's basketball. The Orediggers sit 25-34 in the series, but boast 10 straight wins against the Grizzlies. Mines' last loss to ASU came on Jan. 13, 2012 in a 64-57 decision on Adams State's home court. What that means is Oredigger Head Coach Brittany Simpson has never lost to the Grizzlies. Since she took over the helm in 2012, Mines has gone 9-0 including five wins in Alamosa. The latest faceoff between the two teams was Jan. 10, 2020 in Golden and Mines produced its largest margin of victory over ASU in a 79-36 win. Denali Pinto led five Orediggers who scored in double digits with 19 points. Sammy Van Sickle walked away with a 12-point, 15-rebound double-double. Liz Holter registered 10 points, five assists and four steals. Safe to say, Mines hopes to recreate that production on Friday evening.
 
NATIONALLY RANKED
The Colorado School of Mines Women's Basketball team maintained its nationally-ranked status on Tuesday by checking in at #18 in the Division II Media Poll sponsored by D2SIDA. Mines dropped just one spot from last week's debut at #17. It's the first time the Orediggers have appeared in back-to-back national polls since the 2015-16 season. Mines dropped out of the top-25 in the coaches' poll, but is receiving votes at the equivalent of #27 in the nation. Western Colorado is the only other RMAC team in the national rankings, sitting #13 in the media poll and #21 on the WBCA's list.
 
OREDIGGER GEMS
"Budge Unstoppable…," was the start of the headline on Jan. 27, 2018. It proved appropriate in the recap of Mines' 89-66 win over Adams State in Alamosa, Colo. Then a junior, Oredigger guard Cassidy Budge had just exploded for 31 points and broken the program record with nine three-point baskets in the game. It marked a career high in scoring for Budge as she became the 12th Oredigger to score 30 points, or more, in one game. The Colorado Springs native went 11-for-17 from the floor including 9-of-14 from long range. Despite her long-range acumen, Budge used a layup in the first quarter to give Mines the lead for good at 10-8. The Orediggers eventually led by as many as 30 points and finished the game shooting 57 percent from the field. At the time, it was Mines' highest point total in a single game since 2015. During the contest, Budge was only credited with eight three-point baskets. Further review found that her field goal with 9:40 to play in the fourth quarter was incorrectly scored as a two-pointer. With the error corrected, Budge broke the program's single-game three-point record. She went on to write her name six times in the program record book and briefly held the #1 spot for career three-point field goal percentage. Budge finished her career at Mines touting 182 buckets made from behind the arc. That still ranks #3 in Oredigger history. The only individuals with more three-point baskets at Mines are Angie Charchalis (2008-13) and Taylor Helbig (2011-15).
 
POSTSEASON SNAPSHOT
The RMAC and NCAA postseason is just around the corner and there are some important things to try and understand. First of all, Mines currently ranks #2 in the RMAC standings according to its winning percentage. However, the conference's regular-season champion will be determined by RPI rankings within the RMAC. The Rating Percentage Index (RPI) being used essentially gives points based on wins and losses on the road and at home against teams in three four different categories. The categories are divided out by winning percentage and include teams above .750, above .500, below .500 and below .250. The point total is eventually divided and that provides the final number with which teams are ranked.
 
MORE POSTSEASON TALK
If you hadn't gathered above, the RPI is changing constantly. So we won't try to explain all the scenarios. The Orediggers currently rank #2 in the RMAC's RPI standings. Mines is all but guaranteed a top-two seed in the conference tournament. In order for a shot at the RMAC crown, the Orediggers need #1-seeded Western Colorado to lose at least once to either Westminster or Colorado Mesa. Mines' chances at the NCAA postseason also look promising as they sit as a team "Under Consideration" in the NCAA regional rankings. The final regional rankings will come out March 7 with the top-six teams from the RMAC and PacWest advancing to the NCAA Tournament hosted by Colorado Mesa in Grand Junction, Colo. For one season only, the NCAA moved the RMAC into the West Region and also chose predetermined host sites for the regionals to help mitigate risk from COVID-19. So fans need not worry about the Lone Star Conference. Look west and within the RMAC for who Mines might meet moving forward.
 
GROUND RULES
In late November, the RMAC released information about the season structure and return-to-play guidelines for basketball. All teams will have a 22-game conference schedule (non-conference play being optional), and any game that is not played due to COVID-19 issues will be declared a "no contest." All student-athletes and team support staff must test negative within 72 hours of the game, and in the state of Colorado, in everyone the arena will wear a mask except for the 10 active players on the court. An RMAC champion will be declared if at least five teams complete 50 percent of their originally approved schedule (11 games). The champion and RMAC Tournament qualifiers will be determined by use of the NCAA Division II RPI system.
 
UP NEXT
Mines' next action will be the quarterfinal round of the RMAC Tournament on Tuesday, March 2. Since the Orediggers' regular season closes on Friday, they will await the results of Saturday's games to learn their first-round opponent. It is extremely like that Tuesday's game will be hosted at Lockridge Arena with tipoff at 5:30 p.m. No fans will be allowed, but live stats and video will be available for free at www.minesathletics.com.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines women's basketball on Twitter and Instagram at @MinesWBB. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.