COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL WEEKLY NOTES #14

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Colorado School of Mines vs. Colorado Christian
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
6:00 pm • Golden, Colorado

Colorado School of Mines vs. Regis
Thursday, February 26, 2004
6:00 pm • Golden, Colorado

No. Probable Starters Ht. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG APG
20 Kristin Horkey 6-0 Jr. Fort Collins, Colo. 5.8 3.2 2.0
22 Kim Kilmer 5-9 Jr. Stoneham, Colo. 7.7 4.0 2.4
30 Heather Hoops 5-8 Jr. Golden, Colo. 4.9 2.2 2.4
32 Heather Angel 5-11 So. Littleton, Colo. 9.6 6.2 1.4
44 Ashley Gronewoller 6-3 So. Pagosa Springs, Colo. 14.0 8.3 0.5

No. Off the Bench Ht. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG APG
14 Lindsay Orchard 5-8 Fr. Salt Lake City, Utah 0.9 0.6 0.6
15 Jessica Neumiller 5-5 Sr. Casper, Wyo. 4.8 1.5 0.8
25 Bara Zahnasova 6-0 Sr. Boulder, Colo. 1.7 1.8 0.2
40 Shannon Griep 5-10 Fr. Longmont, Colo. 0.2 0.5 0.3
42 Gina Cornelio 5-10 Jr. Tucson, Ariz. 3.9 3.7 1.2
45 Katie Cunio 6-0 Sr. Canyon City, Colo. 3.7 3.3 0.4
55 Angela Pearson 6-0 Fr. Arvada, Colo. 2.7 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: This week’s games will conclude the regular season and Mines will wait and see if it qualifies for the RMAC Postseason Tournament beginning next Wednesday.

LAST TIME OUT (2/21/04): Metro State’s Angelena Kuleff totaled 22 points and 12 rebounds to help lift the Roadrunners to a key 52-48 win over Colorado School of Mines Saturday night in Volk Gymnasium. CSM held a 27-16 lead with 5:28 to play in the first half, but Metro State would outscore Mines, 12-0, over the remainder of the half to take a one point lead (28-27) to the locker room. The second half was much of the same as Mines claimed a 46-39 lead with 6:03 to play, but saw the Roadrunners outscore them, 13-2 over the remainder of the game to earn the win. CSM junior guard Kim Kilmer led Mines with 12 points and four rebounds.

ABOUT COLORADO CHRISTIAN: The Cougars are 1-24 overall and 0-17 in RMAC play this year after dropping home games to Metro State and Chadron State last weekend. Rhiannon Dickson leads the team in scoring (12.5 ppg) and Jeanee Burton posts 7.8 points and a team-best 6.2 boards per game.

LAST TIME vs. CCU (1/20/04): The Colorado Mines women’s basketball team ran its winning streak to four games and improved to .500 overall with a 68-46 triumph over Colorado Christian at Cougar Fieldhouse. Sophomore center Ashley Gronewoller finished with a game-high 14 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots for Mines, while CCU was led by Jeanee Burton’s double-double of 10 points and game-high 10 rebounds.

ABOUT REGIS: The Rangers enter the week at 17-8 overall and 12-5 in conference play, second in the East Division. Last week, Regis dropped a game at Nebraska-Kearney and knocked off Fort Hays State on the road. Kristina Vengryte leads the team in scoring (16.0 ppg), while Keely O’Dell posts 13.7 points and 4.9 boards per night. Denise Lopez averages 7.5 points and a team-best 5.3 rebounds per game.

LAST TIME vs. REGIS (1/24/04): The Colorado Mines women’s basketball team had its four-game winning streak snapped as Regis handed the Orediggers a 55-46 setback at Regis Fieldhouse CSM junior guard Kristin Horkey 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. Regis placed three players in double figures led by Lindsay Viall’s 11 points.

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 10th in the league in scoring (14.0 ppg), fifth in rebounding (8.3 rpg) and leads the RMAC in field goal percentage (.608), which is also 10th in the nation. She is tied for third 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 (9.6 ppg) and rebounding (6.2 rpg) and is the only Oredigger player to start all 25 games this year.

HOOP IT UP: Junior guard Heather Hoops had a solid week in helping Mines to a 3-0 mark four 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 4.9 points per game and leads the team with 22 steals and 60 assists.

DOUBLE “K”: Junior guard Kim Kilmer has shown her all-around game this season. She is third on the team in sccoring (7.7 ppg) and rebounding (4.0 rpg) and second on the team with 59 assists. She grabbed a career-high 11 boards in a win over Colorado College on Jan. 13. In her last six games, Kilmer is averaging 11.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.0 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 11-14, the Orediggers have reached double figure wins for the seventh time in program history. In addition, CSM stands at 9-8 in the RMAC and needs one more victory 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 and 6-3 at home.

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 17-2 when it scores at least 70 points, including 2-0 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 10-1 when scoring at least 60 points. The only loss came to Northern Colorado (86-60) on Nov. 28 at the Colorado Christian Thanksgiving Tournament.

FOUR 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.

STIFLING “D”: The Orediggers currently lead the RMAC and are 20th in Division II in field goal percentage defense as teams are shooting just .356 percent against Mines. CSM has held 20-of-25 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 19 games this season and ranks 14th 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 eight spot and would play at top-seeded Nebraska-Kearney if the tournament started today. However, with several different scenerios, Mines could finish anywhere from fifth to eighth in the final standings. CSM needs to win one game this week to clinch a berth, as Adams State is two games behind Mines for the fianl playoff spot.