COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL WEEKLY NOTES #11

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Colorado School of Mines at Chadron State
Thursday, February 5, 2004
6:00 pm • Chadron, Neb.

Colorado School of Mines at Metro State
Saturday, February 7, 2004
5:00 pm • Denver, Colo.

No. Probable Starters Ht. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG APG
20 Kristin Horkey 6-0 Jr. Fort Collins, Colo. 5.6 2.9 1.4
22 Kim Kilmer 5-9 Jr. Stoneham, Colo. 6.7 4.3 2.5
30 Heather Hoops 5-8 Jr. Golden, Colo. 5.4 1.9 2.3
32 Heather Angel 5-11 So. Littleton, Colo. 9.9 5.9 1.6
44 Ashley Gronewoller 6-3 So. Pagosa Springs, Colo. 14.3 8.4 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 0.6
15 Jessica Neumiller 5-5 Sr. Casper, Wyo. 5.3 1.7 0.9
25 Bara Zahnasova 6-0 Sr. Boulder, Colo. 1.5 1.7 0.2
40 Shannon Griep 5-10 Fr. Longmont, Colo. 0.3 0.5 0.4
42 Gina Cornelio 5-10 Jr. Tucson, Ariz. 4.5 4.3 1.5
45 Katie Cunio 6-0 Sr. Canyon City, Colo. 3.1 3.5 0.3
55 Angela Pearson 6-0 Fr. Arvada, Colo. 3.1 2.3 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 conclude its road season with games at Fort Hays State and Nebraska-Kearney on Feb. 13-14. Tipoff is slated for 6:00 pm for both contests.

LAST TIME OUT (1/31/04): Nebraska-Kearney’s Allison Krueger totaled 18 points, eight rebounds, three blocked shots and two steals to help lift the Lopers to a 62-58 victory over Colorado Mines Saturday night in Volk Gymnasium. UNK raced out to a 23-15 lead with 6:31 to play in the first half, only to see the Orediggers use a 13-4 run to close the first half and take a one point (28-27) lead at the break. Mines opened its largest lead of the game (51-45) on a layup from senior guard Jessica Neumiller with 10:34 to play in the game. But UNK used a 9-2 run over the next five minutes of play to regain a 54-53 lead. The Lopers would lead the rest of the way. The Orediggers were led by sophomore center Ashley Gronewoller who tallied a game-high 19 points, eight boards and three blocks.

ABOUT CHADRON STATE: The Eagles open the week at 4-14 overall and 4-7 in the RMAC after a 75-74 win at home over Regis on Saturday. For the season, CSC is led by Dawn Hereford who averages 13.3 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. She poured in 21 points in the win over the Rangers. Kim Petty posts 11.9 points and a team-high 8.1 boards per game and leads the team with 40 assists and 32 steals.

LAST TIME vs. CHADRON STATE (2/20/03): Chadron State opened the second half on a 17-4 run and claimed a 73-51 victory over Colorado Mines. The Eagles, who led 27-20 at the half, scored the first five points of the second half to push their lead to 14 points. After a pair of baskets by Mines, Chadron State would score the next 12 points to take a 46-24 lead with 13:44 left in the game and never be threatened. CSM was paced by Heather Angel who totaled a game-high 16 points to go with seven rebounds, while Chadron was led by Marie Worsham who tallied 11 points and nine boards.

ABOUT METRO STATE: The Roadrunners enter the week at 7-12 overall and 5-6 in the RMAC after home wins over Chadron State (74-72) and Regis (66-61) last week. For the season, MSCD is led by Natasha Molock who averages a team-high 13.9 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. Stephanie Davis adds 12.6 points and 5.0 boards per night and Angelena Kuleff contributes 10.1 points and a team-high 5.8 rebounds per game.

LAST TIME vs. METRO STATE (2/22/03): Colorado Mines center Ashley Gronewoller recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 boards, but it was not enough as the Orediggers fell to Metro State, 64-60, at the Auraria Events Center. Mines, which trailed 31-30 at the half, also received 18 points from Jessica Neumiller. Natasha Molock paced the Roadrunners with a game-high 24 points and four assists.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Oredigger 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 eighth in the league in scoring (14.3 ppg), fourth in rebounding (8.4 rpg) and second field goal percentage (.609), which is also eighth in the nation. She is also third 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 (9.9 ppg) and rebounding (5.9 rpg) and is shooting 43 percent from three point land and 88 percent from the charity stripe.

HOOP IT UP: Junior guard Heather Hoops had a solid week in helping Mines to a 3-0 mark three 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 5.4 points per game and leads the team with 17 steals and is second in assists (43).

DOUBLE “K”: Junior guard Kim Kilmer has shown her all-around game this season. She is third on the team in sccoring (6.7 ppg) and rebounding (4.3 rpg) and leads the team with 47 assists. She grabbed a career-high 11 boards in a win over Colorado College on Jan. 13.

HORK OFF THE HOOK: Junior guard Kristin Horkey has had a nice stretch of three games. It started last Saturday when she poured in a season-best 15 points in a loss at Regis. Over that three game stretch, Horkey is averaging 9.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game and is shooting 45 percent (5-11) from three-point land during the streak. She also grabbed a career-high seven rebounds in Saturday’s loss to UNK.

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 9-10, the Orediggers need one wins to reach double figure wins for the seventh time in program history and seven 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 8-1 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. In Friday’s win over Fort Hays, the team nailed 33-of-43 free tosses. For the season, Mines is now shooting .674 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 .354 percent against Mines. CSM has held 14-of-18 opponents under 40 percent shooting this season. Nebraska-Kearney was the first team to shoot at least 50 percent from the floor against Mines this year as it hit 25-of-50 shots in the win Saturday.