COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL WEEKLY NOTES #13

CLICK HERE for a complete PDF version

Colorado School of Mines vs. Chadron State
Friday, February 20, 2004
6:00 pm • Golden, Colorado

Colorado School of Mines vs. Metro State
Saturday, February 21, 2004
6:00 pm • Golden, Colorado

No. Probable Starters Ht. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG APG
20 Kristin Horkey 6-0 Jr. Fort Collins, Colo. 5.7 3.1 1.9
22 Kim Kilmer 5-9 Jr. Stoneham, Colo. 7.5 4.1 2.5
30 Heather Hoops 5-8 Jr. Golden, Colo. 4.8 2.0 2.2
32 Heather Angel 5-11 So. Littleton, Colo. 10.0 6.1 1.4
44 Ashley Gronewoller 6-3 So. Pagosa Springs, Colo. 13.8 8.4 0.5

No. Off the Bench Ht. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG APG
14 Lindsay Orchard 5-8 Fr. Salt Lake City, Utah 0.8 0.5 0.6
15 Jessica Neumiller 5-5 Sr. Casper, Wyo. 4.9 1.7 0.9
25 Bara Zahnasova 6-0 Sr. Boulder, Colo. 1.6 1.7 0.2
40 Shannon Griep 5-10 Fr. Longmont, Colo. 0.2 0.4 0.3
42 Gina Cornelio 5-10 Jr. Tucson, Ariz. 4.1 3.7 1.3
45 Katie Cunio 6-0 Sr. Canyon City, Colo. 3.6 3.1 0.3
55 Angela Pearson 6-0 Fr. Arvada, Colo. 3.0 2.6 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 the regular season by hosting Colorado Christian on Feb. 24 and Regis on Feb. 26 in Volk Gymnasium. Both games are slated for 6:00 pm.

LAST TIME OUT (2/14/04): The Colorado School of Mines women’s basketball team fell to 10-13 overall and 8-7 in the conference with an 82-58 setback at Nebraska-Kearney Saturday evening at the Health & Sports Center. Mines received 13 points apiece from sophomore forward Heather Angel guard Kim Kilmer, while Angel also grabbed six rebounds.

ABOUT CHADRON STATE: The Eagles open the week at 6-16 overall and 6-9 in RMAC play after knocking off Metro State at home and losing on the road to Regis last week. Dawn Hereford leads the team in scoring (12.4 ppg) and Kim Petty also scores in double digits for the Eagles at 12.2 points per game and leads the team in rebounding (7.8 rpg). Taylor Cady contributes 8.2 points per game.

LAST TIME vs. CHADRON (2/5/04): The Colorado Mines women’s basketball team won for the sixth time in eight games with a 64-57 triumph at Chadron State. Sophomore center Ashley Gronewoller led the way with her seventh double-double of the season as she notched game highs in points (19) and rebounds (13). Mines trailed, 28-25, as the teams headed for the locker rooms at halftime, but held the Eagles to just 7-of-27 (.259) shooting from the floor in the second half. In comparison, the Orediggers knocked down 14-of-26 (.538) from the field in the second half to rally for the win. Chadron was led by Kim Petty who posted 13 points and eight rebounds.

ABOUT METRO STATE: The Roadrunners are 9-14 overall and 7-8 in conference play having lost at Chadron State and Regis last week. Natasha Molock leads the team in scoring (13.8 ppg) and steals (115) this season. Stephanie Davis posts 12.0 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, while Angelena Kuleff averages 10.3 points and a team-best 6.1 boards per night.

LAST TIME vs. METRO STATE (2/7/04): Metro State outscored Colorado Mines, 36-19, in the second half en route to a 59-53 victory at the Auraria Events Center. Mines was led by sophomore center Ashley Gronewoller who tallied her eighth double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Natasha Molock produced 15 points, six steals, five rebounds and four assists for the Roadrunners.

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 11th in the league in scoring (13.8 ppg), third in rebounding (8.4 rpg) and second field goal percentage (.606), which is also 12th in the nation. She is second in the RMAC with eight double-doubles.

A DURABLE ANGEL: 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 (10.0 ppg) and rebounding (6.1 rpg) and is the only Oredigger player to start all 23 games this year.

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 5.1 points per game and leads the team with 18 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 (7.5 ppg) and rebounding (4.1 rpg) and leads the team with 57 assists. She grabbed a career-high 11 boards in a win over Colorado College on Jan. 13. In her last four games, Kilmer is averaging 11.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.

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 10-13, the Orediggers have reached double figure wins for the seventh time in program history and need six wins to match the all-time record of 16 wins in 2001-02. In addition, CSM stands at 8-7 in the RMAC and needs two more victories to tie the school record for most conference wins in a season.

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 5-9 away from Volk Gym.

HOME SWEET HOME: Mines will be glad to be in the confines of Volk Gymnasium for its last four games this season as the team has posted a 5-2 mark at home this year.

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 9-1 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 an eight point road loss. 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 10 point win. In a win over Fort Hays on Jan. 30, the team nailed 33-of-43 free tosses in a 12 point victory. For the season, Mines is now shooting .683 from the free throw line, which ranks better than the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA (.663) and just percentage points behind the Los Angeles Lakers (.697).

STIFLING “D”: The Orediggers currently lead the RMAC and are ninth in Division II in field goal percentage defense as teams are shooting just .359 percent against Mines. CSM has held 18-of-23 opponents under 40 percent shooting this season. Nebraska-Kearney has been the only team to shoot better than 50 percent from the floor against Mines having done it in both meetings this season.

ON THE BOARDS: Mines has outrebounded its opposition in 17 games this season and ranks 10th in the NCAA with an 8.1 rebounding differential.

TOURNEY TIME: The Orediggers are currently in the hunt for one of eight RMAC Postseason Tournament berths. It would be their first berth since the 2001-02 season when they lost at Nebraska-Kearney in the first round. Mines currently holds the seventh spot and would play at second-seeded Fort Lewis if the tournament started today. CSM holds a one game lead over Metro State and Adams State and a two game advantage over Chadron State and CU-Colorado Springs. All RMAC teams have four more regular season games to play.