(5) Mines (21-7) at (4) UCCS (21-7) – Friday, 5:30 p.m. – Lockridge Arena [Live Stats] [RMAC Network-PPV] [Bracket]

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A NEW SEASON BEGINS
The 2023-24 regular season is in the books for the Colorado School of Mines Women's Basketball team. Now, the postseason begins with the Orediggers headed to Colorado Springs, Colo., to face UCCS in the first round of the 2024 RMAC Women's Basketball Tournament. Mines earned the #5 seed with a 16-6 record in conference play. The Mountain Lions went 18-4 and shared the RMAC title with Colorado Mesa, Regis, and Adams State. Tiebreakers put UCCS at #4 in the seeding and gave the Mountain Lions hosting rights in Colorado Springs. It's a single elimination tournament so records go out the windows and survive and advance comes to the forefront.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
The 2023-24 school year marks a change in postseason coverage for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Live video will now be pay-per-view on the RMAC Network. Fans can purchase one pass each day of the tournament for $9.95 to watch all seven games. There will also be live stats offered free of charge through the link above and at www.minesathletics.com. The RMAC Network can be loaded on your phone or downloaded on any smart TV/live streaming device by searching RMAC. There will also be free live stats linked above and 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, Colorado Mesa holds hosting rights for the semifinal and final rounds as the #1 seed.
 
THE BRACKET
Also mentioned above was a four-way tie for #1 in the final RMAC standings. Colorado Mesa, Regis, Adams State, and UCCS all finished with an 18-4 mark. All four teams were named co-RMAC Championships. Tiebreakers put Colorado Mesa #1 in the bracket with Regis #2, Adams State #3, and UCCS #4. On the bottom half, Mines sits #5, Black Hills State is #6, Colorado Christian is #7, and CSU Pueblo is #8. That means, on Tuesday, CSU Pueblo will travel to Colorado Mesa with Colorado Christian at Regis, Black Hills State at Adams State, and Mines at UCCS. The winner of the Mesa-Pueblo game will face the winner of the UCCS-Mines matchup. On the other side, the winner of ASU and BHSU will face the victor between Regis and CCU.
 
RMAC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Tuesday marks Mines' ninth straight appearance in the RMAC postseason. Last year, the Orediggers advanced to the championship game before falling to top-seeded Regis. Under head Coach Brittany Simpson, Mines has advanced to 10 conference tournaments in 12 seasons. The Orediggers also earned the top spot in the conference tournament in 2016, 2021, and 2022. Mines has made four runs to the RMAC Tournament Championship game. Their first appearance was in 2006 as the eighth seed. They advanced in 2009 as the third seed. In 2021, the Orediggers were the top seed and made the final but had to bow out due to COVID-19 protocols. Overall, Mines is 11-21 in the RMAC tournament. Prior to this season, the Orediggers had 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.
 
SENIOR WEEKEND SUMMARY
Mines closed the regular season at home and celebrated Senior Weekend with Adams State and Fort Lewis in town. The Orediggers fell to ASU on Friday by a score of 82-63. Ashley Steffeck scored 14 points and had six rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Loralee Stock turned in 12 points, seven rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and one steal. Josephine Howery added 11 points. Also notable was Shelby Nichols with eight points and seven rebounds. However, the Grizzlies went 10-of-20 from three-point range and forced the Orediggers into 18 turnovers. That same night, Mines celebrated Shelby Nichols, Loralee Stock, and Ashley Steffeck for their Senior Night at halftime of the men's game. On Saturday, the Orediggers earned a wire-to-wire, 89-82 win over Fort Lewis. Steffeck scored 26 points with five assists, four rebounds, and two steals on a historic night for her. More on that later. Jessica Rios, Loralee Stock, and Josephine Howery all scored in double figures as well.
 
FOR ALL TIME
On Saturday, Ashley Steffeck stamped her name #1 on two more categories in the program record book. She surpassed Denali Pinto (2018-22) as Mines' all-time leading scorer thanks to 17 points in the first half and 26 for the game. Steffeck also took over #1 in all-time assists, moving past Laura Tyree (2013-17) and over 400 for her career. With the later mark, Steffeck becomes the only Oredigger ever – man or woman – to record 400 steals and 400 assists in a career. The Fort Collins, Colo., native also owns nearly every Mines record for steals along with single-season and career made free throws.
 
REGIONAL RANKINGS
The ranked-in-order NCAA South Central Regional rankings came out last week and the Orediggers debuted at #4. That puts Mines in the middle of the pack for a berth in the 2024 NCAA tournament. The newest rankings won't come out until after the RMAC tournament has begun. The rest of the latest rankings feature Texas Woman's at #1 followed by #2 Colorado Mesa, #3 Regis, #5 UT Tyler, #6 UT Permian Basin, #7 Lubbock Christian, #8 Adams State, #9 UCCS, and #10 Colorado Christian. There will be two more versions of the regional rankings. The next release will be Wednesday, March 6, right after the start of the 2024 RMAC Women's Basketball Tournament. The final NCAA South Central Regional rankings will be unveiled on Sunday, March 10, and determine which teams advance to the NCAA postseason. The top eight teams in the South Central Region on March 10 will all travel to the #1 seed and play a single-elimination bracket from March 15-18.
 
SCOUTING UCCS
The University of Colorado Colorado Springs' women are the hottest team in the RMAC right now. They are riding a 10-game win streak into the postseason which dates back to Jan. 26. The Mountain Lions last loss was to Mines in Golden on Jan. 20. Over the weekend, UCCS closed the regular season with wins of 65-59 and 71-57 at home against CSU Pueblo and New Mexico Highlands, respectively. The Mountain Lions finished the regular season with a 21-7 record. As a team, UCCS is #14 in the nation in bench points per game #15 in three-point defense, and #16 in turnover margin. Individually, Maison White is the main weapon for the Mountain Lions. She averages 13 points and nine rebounds per game and shoots over 56 percent from the field. Amyah Moore Allen is a threat as well with 12.4 points and 1.9 steals per game.
 
OREDIGGERS AGAINST THE MOUNTAIN LIONS
The all-time series between Mines and UCCS is tied at 23. The Orediggers dealt the Mountain Lions their last loss earlier this season. It was a 77-68 win for Mines at Lockridge Arena. Ashley Steffeck exploded for 35 points with three assists and three steals. Jessica Rios came up with 10 points. Additionally Quincey Baum dished out five assists and Shelby Nichols Stacked four steals. Mines is 7-3 in its last 10 meetings with UCCS. That being said, the Orediggers are 2-3 in their last five trips to Colorado Springs. Mines has never played the Mountain Lions in the postseason.
 
20-WIN SEASON
With their win at Chadron State, Mines' women reached 20 wins for a third straight season. It marks the most successful stretch in program history. Prior to the 2021-22 campaign when the Orediggers posted a 25-6 mark, the program had only produced two 20-win campaigns – ever. The first 20-win season came in 2009-10. The second campaign with 20 wins was 2015-16 when Mines won its first RMAC title.
 
200 WINS
Mines' win against St. Edward's on opening weekend gave Mines Head Coach Brittany Simpson the 200th win of her career. It makes Simpson the only head coach in program history to reach the milestone. By default, it also makes her the fastest to 200 career wins in the history of Mines women's basketball. The milestone added to Simpson's impressive resume which saw her become the winningest coach in the history of Colorado School of Mines Women's Basketball on Dec. 4, 2020, in a 68-53 win over South Dakota Mines inside Lockridge Arena. Simpson is now in her 12th season as skipper of the Orediggers.
 
BOSS LADY
Head Coach Brittany Simpson is in her 12th season leading the Mines women's basketball program. During her decade tenure, she has become the winningest coach in program history both in terms of total wins and win percentage at 219-121 (64.4). Simpson is responsible for all three of the program's RMAC titles including regular-season championships in 2015-16, 2020-21, and 2021-22. She has also led the Orediggers in four of their five trips to the NCAA tournament. Simpson 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. She has also coached one RMAC Player of the Year, two RMAC Defensive Players of the Year, and two RMAC Freshman of the Year award winners. Eight of Mines' 13 1,000-point scorers have surpassed the milestone under Simpson's watch. Last season, Ashley Steffeck became the first all-American in program history after earning Honorable Mention All-America status from the Women's Basketball Coaches' Association (WBCA).
 
UP NEXT
If the Orediggers win on Tuesday, they will face the winner between Colorado Mesa and CSU Pueblo 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 of the Orediggers' name is called for the NCAA tournament.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines women's basketball on "X" (formerly Twitter) and Instagram at @MinesWBB. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, "X" and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.