COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL WEEKLY NOTES #10

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Colorado School of Mines vs. Fort Hays State
Friday, January 30, 2004
6:00 pm • Golden, Colo.

Colorado School of Mines vs. Nebraska-Kearney
Saturday, January 31, 2004
6:00 pm • Golden, Colo.

No. Probable Starters Ht. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG APG
20 Kristin Horkey 6-0 Jr. Fort Collins, Colo. 5.5 2.5 1.5
22 Kim Kilmer 5-9 Jr. Stoneham, Colo. 6.8 4.3 2.4
30 Heather Hoops 5-8 Jr. Golden, Colo. 5.1 2.0 2.0
32 Heather Angel 5-11 So. Littleton, Colo. 10.1 5.8 1.6
44 Ashley Gronewoller 6-3 So. Pagosa Springs, Colo. 14.4 8.3 0.4

No. Off the Bench Ht. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG APG
14 Lindsay Orchard 5-8 Fr. Salt Lake City, Utah 1.0 0.5 0.5
15 Jessica Neumiller 5-5 Sr. Casper, Wyo. 5.8 1.9 1.0
25 Bara Zahnasova 6-0 Sr. Boulder, Colo. 1.6 1.9 0.2
40 Shannon Griep 5-10 Fr. Longmont, Colo. 0.3 0.6 0.4
42 Gina Cornelio 5-10 Jr. Tucson, Ariz. 4.2 4.4 1.5
45 Katie Cunio 6-0 Sr. Canyon City, Colo. 2.6 3.5 0.3
55 Angela Pearson 6-0 Fr. Arvada, Colo. 3.2 2.5 0.1

THE HEAD COACH: Paula Krueger was named the head women’s basketball coach at Colorado Mines on July 7 after serving a six-year stint at Northern State as an assistant coach.
A graduate of Northern State, Krueger was a standout on the basketball court as she earned national tournament MVP honors as a senior during Northern’s national championship campaign in 1993-94. Krueger was also a team captain and all-district performer on NSU’s softball team. She earned NSU’s prestigious Hildred Wolfe Student Athlete of the Year award as a senior.
Following her successful athletic career, Krueger served as a graduate assistant at Northern from 1995-96 for women’s basketball and softball while finishing up her studies. She received her bachelor’s in education from Northern in 1995 and her master’s in teaching in 1996.
After graduation, Krueger moved to Nevada where she taught and coached at Pahrump Valley High School for one year before returning to Northern State in 1997 to serve as the assistant women’s basketball coach and head softball coach. During her six years as an assistant at NSU, Krueger helped guide the squad to a 114-59 mark.

MINES PICKED SIXTH IN PRESEASON RMAC POLL: The Colorado Mines women’s basketball team was picked sixth out of seven teams in the Preseason RMAC East Division Poll. Nebraska-Kearney was picked to win the division as it received 13 first place votes and 13 points. Fort Hays State was picked second with 34 points, while Regis was third with one first place vote and 36 points. Metro State (45 points), Chadron State (59), Mines (71) and Colorado Christian (85) rounded out the poll.

UP NEXT: CSM will go back on the road and travel to Chadron State for a 6:00 pm game on Feb. 5 and a 5:00 pm game at Metro State on Feb. 7.

LAST TIME OUT (1/24/04): The Colorado School of Mines women’s basketball team had its four-game winning streak snapped as Regis handed the Orediggers a 55-46 setback at Regis Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon. CSM junior guard Kristin Horkey scored game-high 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor. Regis raced out to a 10-point lead (18-8) 12 minutes into the contest, but Mines would close the first half on an 11-2 run to close the gap to 20-19 at halftime. CSM gained its first lead of the afternoon as senior forward Bara Zahnasova hit a jumper seven seconds into the second half. Neither team would claim a lead larger than two points and the score would be tied five times over the next seven minutes of action. However, with the game knotted at 32-32 with 13:53 to play, the Rangers would go on a 15-4 run to regain a double digit lead (47-36) with 5:04 to play. Mines would not threaten the rest of the way.

ABOUT FORT HAYS STATE: The Tigers begin the week at 9-6 overall and 6-3 in conference play after defeating Chadron State (79-72) and Metro State (81-64) at home last weekend. Cassie Cordell leads the team in scoring (15.3 ppg) and rebounding (7.7 rpg) this season. Shanell Watson also scores in double figures (14.5 ppg) and leads the team with 34 steals and Jennifer Hake contributed 9.9 points and 6.6 boards per game.

LAST TIME vs. FORT HAYS (2/14/03): Fort Hays claimed a 22-15 lead at the half and held on for a 56-47 victory over Colorado Mines. Ashley Gronewoller led CSM with a double-double as she scored a career-high 23 points and tied her career-high with 14 rebounds. She also blocked three shots. Fort Hays was paced by Jamie Heiman who posted a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

ABOUT NEBRASKA-KEARNEY: The Lopers enter the week at 14-3 overall and in first place in the RMAC at 8-1. Last weekend, UNK knocked off Metro State (83-60) and Chadron State (88-59) at home. For the season, the Lopers have four players averaging double figures led by Kalee Modlin who posts 16.5 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. Anne Manning averages 13.3 points and 5.5 boards per game, while Allison Kruger (12.9 ppg) and Taryn Ninemire (10.7 ppg) also score in double figures.

LAST TIME UNK (2/15/03): The Nebraska-Kearney women’s basketball team won for the 16th straight time in a 61-53 triumph over Colorado Mines. The Orediggers hung tough with Kearney, ranked second in the North Central Region this week, throughout the first half and claimed a 28-24 lead at the break. However, UNK opened up its largest lead of the game (51-40) with 7:45 to play. Mines was able to cut its deficit to as little as five points with 2:12 left, but the Lopers hung on for the win. Mines was led by Ashley Gronewoller who tallied 18 points, seven boards and four blocked shots, while UNK was paced by Taryn Ninemire who scored a game-high 22 points on 6-of-7 shooting from three-point range.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sophomore center Ashley Gronewoller was named the RMAC East Division Player of the Week on Dec.16 after averaging 25.0 points and 15.5 rebounds in two road wins and shooting 76 percent from the floor (16-21). In addition, Gronewoller garnered the honor on Jan. 20 after leading the Orediggers to a 3-0 week by averaging 16.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.7 blocked shots per game and recording two double doubles.

SUPER SOPH: Sophomore center Ashley Gronewoller is making a strong case for all-conference honors for the second straight season. The 6-foot-3 Preseason All-RMAC East Division selection is seventh in the league in scoring (14.4 ppg) and is third in rebounding (8.2 rpg) and second field goal percentage (.619), which is also eighth in the nation. She is also second in the RMAC with six double-doubles.

AN ANGEL AMONG US: Sophomore forward Heather Angel is building upon her strong rookie campaign in which she was an Honorable Mention All-East Division pick. Angel is second on the team in scoring (10.1 ppg) and rebounding (5.8 rpg) and is shooting an amazing 49 percent from three point land, which is first in the RMAC, and 89 percent from the charity stripe.

HOOP IT UP: Junior guard Heather Hoops had a solid week in helping Mines to a 3-0 mark two weeks ago. The Golden native averaged 8.7 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists and scored 11 and 10 points in conference wins over Adams State and Fort Lewis, respectively. Hoops is now averaging 5.1 points per game and is second on the team in steals (13) and assists (34).

DOUBLE “K”: Junior guard Kim Kilmer has shown her all-around game this season. She is third on the team in sccoring (6.8 ppg) and rebounding (4.3 rpg) and leads the team with 40 assists. She grabbed a career-high 11 boards in a win over Colorado College on Jan. 13.

SOMETHING “NEU”: Senior guard Jessica Neumiller is giving the Orediggers a spark off the bench this season. The Casper, Wyo., native is fourth on the team in scoring (6.1 ppg) and has hit a team-high 27 three-pointers this year.

THE DRIVE FOR FIVE: The win over Colorado College on Jan. 13 gave Mines five for the season, one more than all of last year. At 8-9, the Orediggers need two wins to reach double figure wins for the seventh time in program history and eight wins to match the all-time record of 16 wins in 2001-02.

ROAD WOES: CSM earned its first road win (65-48 at Western State on Dec. 12) since defeating Colorado Christian, 67-48, in Lakewood, Colo., on Feb. 16, 2002. Since that game, the Orediggers were 0-12 on the road, including 0-10 in 2002-03. This year, Mines is 3-5 away from Volk Gym.

LET’S GET 70: The number 70 appears to be the good luck charm for the women’s basketball team. Since the 2000-01 season, Mines is 16-2 when it scores at least 70 points, including 1-0 this season. The last time CSM lost when it scored at least 70 points was Mar. 1, 2003, a 76-71 ovetime loss at Regis.

WHAT ABOUT 60???: The number 60 could be this year’s lucky number for the Orediggers as the team is 7-1 when scoring at least 60 points. The only loss came to Northern Colorado (86-60) on Nov. 28 at the Colorado Christian Thanksgiving Tournament.

THREE STRAIGHT: Mines posted four straight wins (Jan. 13-20) for the first time since the 2001-02 season when the Orediggers opened that season with a school-record five straight wins.

AT THE LINE: What a difference a few months makes. In the season opening loss at Mesa State on Nov. 15, Mines connected on just 9-of-24 free throws. In a win over Fort Lewis on Jan. 17, the Orediggers calmly sank 22-of-24 tosses from the charity stripe, including 11-of-12 in the final two minutes to secure the win. For the season, Mines is now shooting .664 from the free throw line.

STIFLING “D”: The Orediggers currently lead the RMAC and are 21st in Division II in field goal percentage defense as teams are shooting just .353 percent against Mines. CSM has held 13-of-17 opponents under 40 percent shooting this season and has held several of the top players in the RMAC and the region to subpar games. Below is a list of what those players did against Mines and their season averages ...

SEASON AVERAGES

PLAYER (SCHOOL) PPG RPG FG%
Amy Mohr (Fort Lewis) 18.1 7.4 .549
Kristina Vengryte (Regis) 17.3 4.8 .556
Natalie Rogers (Mesa State) 13.5 6.0 .457
Meagan Hoffman (Adams St.) 13.3 8.6 .401
Mandy Koupal (South Dakota) 23.3 10.7 .499

AGAINST MINES

PLAYER (SCHOOL) PTS RBDS FG
Amy Mohr (Fort Lewis) 12 6 5-13
Kristina Vengryte (Regis) 9 1 2-9
Natalie Rogers (Mesa State) 6 5 3-11
Meagan Hoffman (Adams St.) 13 5 6-14
Mandy Koupal (South Dakota) 13 9 3-12