By: Sam Boender
THE BIG DANCE
For a third straight season and for the fifth time in program history, the Colorado School of Mines Basketball team earned a berth in the NCAA tournament. The Orediggers open their 2023 run on Friday at 5 p.m. (CT) as the #4 seed taking on fifth-seeded UT Tyler at the Junell Center in San Angelo, Texas. It is truly win or go home for all teams still playing. A victory pushes Mines into the regional semifinals for the first time in program history. A loss brings the 2022-23 women's basketball season to an end.
FAN INFORMATION
There are no pass lists for postseason play. Adult tickets can be
purchased online in advance. The cost is $12 for a single game or $30 for a tournament pass. Adult tickets can also be purchased at the door with cash or card along with youth and student tickets. Youth and student tickets are $7 for a single game or $15 for a tournament pass. All fans planning to attend should review Angelo State's
Clear Bag Policy. Seats behind the team benches will be cleared after every game. Additionally, no fans will be allowed on court level or on the playing surface at any time. No outside food, drinks or personal coolers will be permitted. Pets are not allowed.
LIVE COVERAGE
All seven games of the 2023 NCAA South Central Region Women's Basketball Tournament will stream live on the Lone Star Conference Digital Network. The video will be free, but fans must set up an account to watch. There will also be live stats linked above and at
www.minesathletics.com and on Twitter at @MinesWBB.
THE BRACKET
The 2023 NCAA South Central Region Women's Basketball Tournament is an eight-team, single-elimination bracket. Angelo State earned hosting rights as the top-seeded team. The Rambelles will face eighth-seeded West Texas A&M on Friday at 7:30 p.m. (CT). The winner of that game will take on the victor between Mines and UT Tyler. On the other side of the bracket, Texas Woman's earned the #2 seed and gets to play seventh-seeded Lubbock Christian at 2:30 p.m. (CT) on Friday. Featured in the first game of the tournament are third-seeded Regis and sixth-seeded Black Hills State. They play at 12 p.m. (CT) on Friday. The winners from the first two games will play each other in the first semifinal on Saturday at 5 p.m. (CT). Those teams advancing to the championship game are slated to face off Monday at 7 p.m. (CT).
LOOKING BACK
The last time Mines was in action was the 2023 RMAC Women's Basketball Tournament. The Orediggers started the postseason with a 66-60 win against seventh-seeded Colorado Mesa inside Lockridge Arena.
Ashley Steffeck scored 21 points.
Josephine Howery scored 17 points.
Megan Van de Graaf notched 12 points.
Sammy Van Sickle did it all with nine points, 13 rebounds, five assists and two steals. In the conference semifinals, Mines took down sixth-seeded MSU Denver inside Regis Field House by a score of 74-66. Steffeck exploded for 32 points in that game while
Sammy Van Sickle added 17 points and nine rebounds. In the championship game, the Orediggers fell to top-seeded Regis in a 65-61 thriller. The loss came despite 18 points and eight rebounds from Steffeck, 15 points and nine rebounds from Van Sickle, and an 11-point, 12-rebound double-double from Van de Graaf.
SCOUTING UT TYLER
The Patriots of the University of Texas Tyler enter the national postseason touting an overall record of 24-7. They finished Lone Star Conference play 18-4 and advanced to the LSC tournament semifinals where they fell to eventual tournament champion Angelo State. As a team, UTT averages 65.7 points per game on offense and gives up a stingy 57.6 points per game on defense. The Patriots rank #13 in the nation in field-goal percentage defense. Their overall scoring defense is #25 in the country. Four different Patriots earned all-conference honors. Tina Machalova was voted Sixth Woman of the Year and Second-Team All-LSC. Lovisa Hevinder and Destini Whitehead were also voted Second-Team All-LSC. Montse Gutierrez earned Third-Team All-LSC. Whitehead is UT Tyler's leading scorer with 13.0 points per game as well as 3.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.6 steals per contest. Machalova averages 12.3 points per game off the bench. Hevinder is tops on the glass with 6.5 rebounds per game while averaging 9.8 points per game thanks to 71 three-pointers on the year.
SERIES HISTORY
Friday will mark the first-ever meeting between the Mines and UT Tyler women's basketball teams. The Patriots played in NCAA Division II until 2019-20 when they began their transition to NCAA Division II. The Orediggers have played the remaining Lone Star teams in the bracket a combined six times and are 0-6 in those contests. Their lone meeting was with Angelo State in Mines' 2016 trip to the NCAA tournament. The Orediggers could meet one of their fellow RMAC teams in the tournament championship. If that's the case, Mines is 29-55 in the all-time series against Regis and 10-8 in the rivalry with Black Hills State. In the last 10 meetings with the Rangers and Yellow Jackets, the Orediggers are a combined 14-6 against the RMAC competition in the field.
NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Mines is making its fifth appearance in the NCAA tournament in program history. The Orediggers' first bid to the national tournament came in 2010. They earned the #8 seed and lost to Fort Lewis, 63-54, in the first round. Mines also advanced in 2016 when they won their first-ever RMAC title. The Orediggers were the #5 seed and dropped a 71-61 decision to Angelo State in Lubbock, Texas, despite 21 points from Cassidy Budge. Mines earned the #1 seed in the West Region in 2019-20 but could not play due to COVID-19 protocols. Last season, the Orediggers won their second straight RMAC title and claimed the #7 seed in the South Central Region. They would fall to second-seeded Texas A&M-Commerce by a score of 80-74 in the Lady Lions' last-ever game as a NCAA Division II program. In that game,
Liz Holter scored 13 points.
Sammy Van Sickle scored 11 points with six rebounds, three blocks and two steals.
Courtney Stanton finished with nine points and eight rebounds.
Ashley Steffeck notched eight points, seven rebounds and four steals. Overall, Mines is 0-3 in the national postseason and Head Coach
Brittany Simpson is 0-2.
TEXAS TIES
This week, the Orediggers return to Texas for the first time since their 2022-23 season openers in San Antonio against St. Edward's and St. Mary's It marks a homecoming of sorts for two individuals on the Mines roster. Graduate student
Megan Van de Graaf calls Spring, Texas, home which is located in the greater Houston area. She graduated from Concordia Lutheran High School in Tomball, Texas, which is about 347 miles from San Angelo, Texas. The second Oredigger hailing from Texas is true freshman
Suni Davis. She lists Fort Worth, Texas, as home and graduated from Saginaw High School which is just 231 miles from San Angelo, Texas.
FAMILY AFFAIR
Colorado School of Mines as a whole is a family affair on many levels, and the women's basketball team is no different. The obvious example are the two team members sharing the same last name. Sammy and
Ashley Van Sickle are sisters. Sammy is in her fifth year with the program. However, her older sister Ashley is in her first year at Mines after five years at NCAA Division I Montana State. Ashley transferred back so that she and Sammy could play their final season of college basketball together. However, the family affair goes much deeper than that. Sammy and Ashley's grandfather played basketball at Mines. Furthmore, their uncle Scott Van Sickle ran track & field, served as head track & field coach, and is now an assistant track & field coach for the nationally-ranked Orediggers. But that's not all.
Megan Van de Graaf touts close family ties to Mines and Mines Athletics as well. Her older brother Jason played football at Mines from 2014-18. Her younger brother Nic is currently on the Oredigger football team and helped Mines advance to the 2022 NCAA championship game.
D2CCA ALL-REGION
Thursday morning, just over 24 hours before tipoff,
Ashley Steffeck and
Sammy Van Sickle were named Second-Team All-Region by the Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA). It marked the first all-region awards for both Orediggers and the most all-region players Mines' women have ever had in a single season. They are the first all-region selections for Mines since
Denali Pinto was voted D2CCA All-Region in 2020 and 2022. The Orediggers led the RMAC and tied for #1 in the region with two D2CCA nods. Grace Foster of Lubbock Christian was named South Central Region Most Outstanding Players. Erin Fry (first team) of Regis and Kendra Parra (second team) were the only other selections from the RMAC.
POSTSEASON ACCOLADES
Last week, the 2023 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) released it postseason awards. Atop the list was
Sammy Van Sickle earning RMAC Defensive Player of the Year. She, along with
Ashley Steffeck and
Megan Van de Graaf were also voted First-Team All-RMAC. The trio of selections was the most nods to the top team in the league. Van Sickle's award gave Mines back-to-back RMAC Defensive Player of the Year awards after Steffeck claimed the honor in 2021-22 thanks to leading the nation in steals and steals per game.
MILESTONES AND RECORDS
Numerous milestones have been reached and multiple records have fallen. This list is not comprehensive but does provide the highlights.
Ashley Steffeck became the program's all-time steals leader earlier this season at Western Colorado. Then, in the regular-season finale at Fort Lewis, Steffeck went over 1,000 points for her career. She now ranks #11 on Mines' all-time scoring list with 1,081, just seven back of Taylor Helbig. During the 2023 RMAC tournament,
Sammy Van Sickle not only surpassed 1,000 points for her career, she also became the program's all-time leading rebounder. She took over the #1 spot from Ashley Gronewoller who pulled down 890 boards from 2002-06.
Megan Van de Graaf just 18 points away from 1,000 for her career. She averaged over 19 points per game through the last seven games of the regular season. Mines is one victory away from tying for most wins in a season. Head Coach
Brittany Simpson needs two wins to reach 200 for her career.
NATIONAL STATISTICAL RANKINGS
As a team, Mines is #7 in NCAA Division II in assist-to-turnover ratio, #8 in fewest turnovers per game, #11 in turnover margin, #14 in steals per game, #24 in offensive rebounds per game, and #25 in scoring margin. Individually,
Ashley Steffeck is #10 in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio, #13 in total steals, and #19 in steals per game.
Sammy Van Sickle is #15 in the nation in total blocks, #17 in blocks per game, #20 in total steals, and #29 in steals per game.
Megan Van de Graaf's field-goal percentage of .538 ranks #30 in the nation.
NATIONAL RANKINGS
With the national postseason about to begin, national rankings are more of a moot point than ever. That being said, the latest edition of the national polls had Mines #25 on the coaches' list while receiving votes from the media.
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 183 wins, three conference titles, and four NCAA Tournament berths. The Orediggers have not finished under .500 since 2014-15, and have recorded double-digit wins every year since 2011-12 including three 20-win seasons.
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 198-113 (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 four of five trips to the NCAA Tournament. She is a three-time RMAC Coach of the Year who has guided 34 All-RMAC selections including 14 first-teamers, 11 second-teamers, one third-team selection and eight honorable mention performers.
UP NEXT
If the Orediggers win on Friday, they will play the winner of top-seeded Angelo State and eighth-seeded West Texas A&M on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (CT). With a loss, Mines' 2022-23 season will come to a close.
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.
