(2) Mines (22-5, 18-4 RMAC) vs. (7) Colorado Mesa (13-15, 12-10 RMAC) – Tuesday, 5:30 p.m. – Lockridge Arena [Live Stats] [RMAC Network]

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WELCOME TO THE POSTSEASON
The 2023 postseason starts Tuesday evening for the Colorado School of Mines Women's Basketball team. The second-seeded Orediggers will host seventh-seeded Colorado Mesa inside Lockridge Arena at 5:30 p.m. in the first round of the 2023 RMAC Women's Basketball Tournament. It's an eight-team, single-elimination bracket meaning winners advance and losers go home and either start the offseason or await NCAA selections.
 
HOW TO GET IN
For postseason play, all fans must have a ticket and there is no passlist. All-sports and faculty/staff passes are not vaild for postseason games. Mines students will be admistted free with their BlasterCard. Tickets can be purchased online at www.minesathletics.com/tickets. They can also be purchased at the door. General admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children, seniors, and military.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
All RMAC contests stream live and for free on the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Network. The RMAC Network can be accessed at www.minesathletics.com/tv, as well as with apps on all major smart TV platforms by searching RMAC. Live statistics are also available at www.minesathletics.com.
 
TOURNAMENT FORMAT
As mentioned above, the RMAC Tournament is an eight-team, single-elimination bracket. On Tuesday, the top four seeds in the bracket host the bottom four seeds on their respective campuses. Quarterfinal winners advance to the semifinals which will be hosted on the campus of the highest remaining seed on Friday evening along with the championship game on Saturday evening. Currently, Regis holds hosting rights for the semifinal and final rounds as the #1 seed.
 
THE BRACKET
Regis earned the #1 seed as the regular-season champions. The Rangers host eighth-seeded CSU Pueblo in Denver, Colo., at 6 p.m. Mines and Colorado Mesa make the matchup between the #2 and #7 seeds. Third-seeded Black Hills State faces #6 MSU Denver at 5 p.m. in Spearfish, S.D. Rounding out the bracket is #4 Adams State hosting #5 Westminster at 6 p.m. in Alamosa, Colo. All first-round games will be played Tuesday. The winner between Regis and CSU Pueblo will play the victor of Westminster and Adams State. On the other side, the winner of Mines and Mesa will face the advancing team out of the MSU Denver and Black Hills State matchup.
 
REGULAR SEASON FINALE
Last Friday and Saturday marked the final weekend of the 2022-23 regular season. Mines closed its campaign with a 64-60 loss at Adams State on Friday before edging Fort Lewis, 78-75 in Durango on Saturday. Individual highlights from the weekend included Sammy Van Sickle's night at ASU where she scored 14 points with seven rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and two steals. On Saturday, Megan Van de Graaf and Ashley Steffeck stole the show. Van de Graaf exploded for a career-high 31 points, making her the 14th Oredigger ever to score 30 points in a game. She also had nine rebounds, one assist, one block, and one steal. Steffeck turned in a 25-point, 13-rebound double-double while dishing out five assists.
 
SCOUTING COLORADO MESA
Colorado Mesa started its season 1-9 overall while opening conference play with a record of 0-4. The Mavericks were last in the RMAC standings, but clawed their way into the tournament field by going 12-6 down the stretch. Clinching CMU's postseason berth was a February record of 6-2. The Mavericks won five straight from Feb. 4-18. Colorado Mesa closed the regular season with a pair of midweek games, losing against Westminster on Wednesday, 62-49, and winning at Western Colorado on Thursday, 59-48. As a team, CMU averages 60.4 points per game and holds its opponents to 59.4 per game. That makes the Mavericks the #2 defense in the league. Their offense ranks #13 out of 15 in the RMAC. Individually, the trio of Olivia Reed, Monica Brooks and Kylie Kravig drive CMU's success. Reed averages 12.6 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game. She's #25 in the nation in total blocks, #22 in double-doubles, and #5 in field-goal percentage, shooting 61.6 percent on the year. Brooks boasts 11.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. Kravig runs the point and touts 4.8 assists along with 8.1 points per outing. Her assist numbers rank top-25 in the nation.
 
SERIES HISTORY – CMU
Colorado School of Mines and Colorado Mesa met twice during the 2022-23 regular season. The Orediggers started RMAC play with a 67-55 win in Grand Junction thanks to double-digit scoring from Josephine Howery, Ashley Steffeck, Sammy Van Sickle, and Megan Van de Graaf. Steffeck had a double-double thanks to 10 rebounds. The Mavericks came to Golden, Colo., on Feb. 10 and took a 59-52 win from Mines after Olivia Reed scored 15 points on 62-percent shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds. Monica Brooks had 14 points, eight rebounds, and three blocks. Those contests moved the all-time record in the rivalry to 61-19 in favor of CMU. That being said, the Orediggers won four straight against the Mavericks from Jan. 22, 2021 to Jan. 21, 2022. Mines is 5-2 in its last seven meetings with Mesa. The Orediggers and Mavericks last met in the postseason On March 5, 2021. Mines won the RMAC semifinal showdown, 50-47, inside Lockridge Arena thanks to Sammy Van Sickle's nine points and 14 rebounds.
 
RMAC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Tuesday marks Mines' eighth straight appearance in the RMAC postseason. Last year, the Orediggers won its first-round game as the #1 seed before falling to CSU Pueblo in the semifinals at Lockridge Arena. Under Head Coach Brittany Simpson, the Orediggers have advanced to nine conference tournaments in 11 seasons. Mines also earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament in 2016, 2021, and 2022. The Orediggers have made three runs to the RMAC Tournament Championship game. Their first appearance was 2006 as the eighth seed. Mines' second appearance in the final was 2009 as the third seed. The Orediggers also advance to the championship round in 2021, but had to bow out of the tournament due to COVID-19 protocols. Overall, Mines is 9-20 in the conference postseason. Also notable is that the Orediggers have hosted a first-round game every year since 2017-18. No other team in the conference has finished #4, or better, in the conference standings each of those seasons.
 
REGIONAL RANKINGS
The second edition of the NCAA South Central Regional rankings came out last Wednesday afternoon, but it was the first edition where teams were actually ranked. There will not be an updated ranking before the start of the RMAC Tournament. Mines debuted at #1 in the region, putting the Orediggers in the driver's seat to host the first three rounds of the NCAA tournament. It's the second time Mines has appeared at #1 in the region after the Orediggers claimed the top spot in the West Region during the 2020-21, pandemic-impacted season. The rest of the rankings included #2 Angelo State, #3 Texas Woman's, #4 Black Hills State, #5 Lubbock Christian, #6 Texas A&M-Kingsville, #7 UT Tyler, #8 West Texas A&M, #9 Regis, and #10 Westminster. There will be two more versions of the regional rankings with the last coming on Sunday, March 5, which will determine who advances to the national postseason.
 
STEFFECK JOINS CLUB 1K
On Saturday at Fort Lewis, Ashley Steffeck scored the 1,000th point of her career. She hit the milestone on a free throw with 1:11 remaining in the second quarter. That came after the senior guard started the game 3-for-3 from three-point range while touting a 4-for-4 mark from the field in the first quarter. Steffeck is the 12th Oredigger to reach 1,000-career points. She now boasts 1,010 for her career and is 60 back of Emily Bailey's 1,070 at #11. It adds to an illustrious collegiate resume for Steffeck who is also the program's leader for steals in a game, season, and career. She continues to climb the record book ranks for three-pointers made in a career and career assists. Steffeck reached 1,000-career points in 104 games.
 
CHASING MILESTONES
Two other Orediggers are still chasing the 1,000-point milestone. Sammy Van Sickle boasts 975 points for her career. She's capable of 25 in one game, or, if Mines can extend their season, she'll need just 12.5 per contest. Furthermore, Van Sickle is just 24 rebounds shy of becoming Mines' all-time leader on the glass. Megan Van de Graaf is the other Oredigger chasing 1,000-career points. After a strong surge to close the regular season, Van de Graaf touts 951 points in her career. Like Van Sickle, she'll benefit greatly from an extended season as she's averaged 19.2 points per game over her last seven outings.
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS
With the release of numerical regional rankings, the national polls are all but a moot point. The national rankings have nothing (we repeat, NOTHING) to do with postseason selection. That being said, Mines continues to appear on the national lists. The Orediggers were #16 in last week's media poll and #17 in the coaches' poll. Updated rankings won't come out until Tuesday afternoon, just hours before tipoff.
 
HOW FAR WE'VE COME
The inaugural campaign for Colorado School of Mines Women's Basketball was 1976-77. Through the first 20 seasons of the program's existence, the Orediggers totaled 106 victories with zero seasons above .500 and just two double-digit win campaigns. Over the last decade, including the 2022-23 campaign, Mines has racked up 181 wins, three conference titles, and three NCAA Tournament berths. The Orediggers have not finished under .500 since 2014-15, and have recorded double-digit wins every year since 2011-12. They've now advanced to eight straight RMAC tournaments as well.
 
AT THE HELM
Head Coach Brittany Simpson is in her 11th season leading the Mines women's basketball program. Mines' home game against Fort Lewis marked her 300th as head coach of the Orediggers. During her decade-plus tenure, she has become the winningest coach in program history both in terms of total wins and win percentage at 196-112 (63.6). Simpson is responsible for all three of the program's RMAC titles including regular-season championships in 2015-16, 2020-21, and 2021-22, as well as three of four trips to the NCAA Tournament. She is a three-time RMAC Coach of the Year who has guided 31 All-RMAC selections including 11 first-teamers, 11 second-teamers, one third-team selection and eight honorable mention performers.
 
UP NEXT
If the Orediggers win on Tuesday, they will face the winner between Black Hills State and MSU Denver at the highest remaining seed on Friday. If Mines loses on Tuesday, the team will await the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday to find out if the Orediggers' name is called for the NCAA tournament.
 
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.