COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL WEEKLY NOTES #15
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament

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#7 Colorado School of Mines at #2 Fort Lewis
Wednesday, March 3, 2004
6:00 pm • Durango, Colorado

No. Probable Starters Ht. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG APG
20 Kristin Horkey 6-0 Jr. Fort Collins, Colo. 5.9 3.1 1.9
22 Kim Kilmer 5-9 Jr. Stoneham, Colo. 7.9 3.9 2.3
30 Heather Hoops 5-8 Jr. Golden, Colo. 5.1 2.2 2.4
32 Heather Angel 5-11 So. Littleton, Colo. 9.5 6.0 1.4
44 Ashley Gronewoller 6-3 So. Pagosa Springs, Colo. 13.5 8.3 0.6

No. Off the Bench Ht. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG APG
14 Lindsay Orchard 5-8 Fr. Salt Lake City, Utah 0.9 0.7 0.6
15 Jessica Neumiller 5-5 Sr. Casper, Wyo. 4.8 1.5 0.9
25 Bara Zahnasova 6-0 Sr. Boulder, Colo. 1.7 1.9 0.2
40 Shannon Griep 5-10 Fr. Longmont, Colo. 0.5 0.7 0.3
42 Gina Cornelio 5-10 Jr. Tucson, Ariz. 3.8 3.6 1.3
45 Katie Cunio 6-0 Sr. Canyon City, Colo. 3.4 3.3 0.4
55 Angela Pearson 6-0 Fr. Arvada, Colo. 2.8 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: If CSM defeats Fort Lewis on Wednesday, it will play the winner of third-seeded Colorado State-Pueblo and sixth-seeded Metro State on Saturday at 4:00 pm at the World Arena in Colorado Springs.

LAST TIME OUT (2/26/04): Regis University outscored Colorado School of Mines, 38-18, in the second half to post a 63-36 in Volk Gymnasium. Regis led by seven at halftime (25-18) and went on to outscore the Orediggers, 19-3 over the first 12 minutes of the second half to take control of the game. CSM sophomore center Ashley Gronewoller scored six points and grabbed a team-best nine boards to lead her squad.

ABOUT FORT LEWIS: The Skyhawks concluded the season at 21-6 overall and 15-4 in conference play to win the RMAC West Division Title and earn the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament. Since a 56-46 loss at Mines on Jan. 17, Fort Lewis has won10-of-12 games, including a 90-79 win over New Mexico Highlands on Saturday night to conclude its regular season. Amy Mohr leads the RMAC in scoring (17.4 ppg) and is sixth in rebounding (7.8 rpg) and field goal percentage (.535). Karen Thies posts 11.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per night and leads the team with 80 steals, while Amie Moulton averages 10.8 points and 4.1 boards per night.

LAST TIME vs. FORT LEWIS (1/17/04): The Colorado School of Mines women’s basketball team outscored Fort Lewis, 34-23, in the second half and placed four players in double figures to earn a 56-46 victory in Volk Gymnasium. Trailing 23-22 at halftime, Mines used a 13-5 run over the first nine minutes of the second half to assume a seven point lead (35-28). After FLC took its last lead of the game (44-43) on a layup from Amy Mohr, the Orediggers used a 7-2 run to regain a six point lead and connected on 11-of-12 free throws in the final two minutes to secure the win. Sophomore center Ashley Gronewoller notched 12 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots to lead Mines, while Mohr who posted 12 points and six boards.

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 after garnering Second Team All-RMAC East Division honors as a freshman last year. The 6-foot-3 Preseason All-RMAC East Division selection is 12th in the league in scoring (13.5 ppg), fifth in rebounding (8.3 rpg) and leads the RMAC in field goal percentage (.594), 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 (9.5 ppg) and rebounding (6.0 rpg) and has now started 52 of 54 career games at Mines.

HOOP IT UP: Junior guard Heather Hoops has been solid all season in running the show for Mines at point guard. The Golden, Colo., native is tops on the team with 66 assists and is second on the squad with 23 steals. She is also averaging 5.1 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. In the win over Fort Lewis back in January, Hoops posted 10 points.

DOUBLE “K”: Junior guard Kim Kilmer has come on strong in recent weeks. Over her last eight games, Kilmer is averaging 10.6 points per game, has scored in double figures in six of those games and has led the team in scoring in five of those contests. She is averaging 7.9 points per game for the season.

HORKEY BACK IN DURANGO: Junior guard Kristin Horkey will be making a return to Durango on Wednesday. In her only game at Fort Lewis on Jan. 18, 2003, Horkey scored a career-high 20 points.

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 12-15, the Orediggers have reached double figure wins for the seventh time in program history and the 12 wins are the third most in school-history. In addition, CSM finished the conference schedule at 10-9, which tied 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 7-4 at home.

LET’S GET 70: The number 70 appears to be the good luck charm for Mines. Since the 2000-01 season, Mines is 18-2 when it scores at least 70 points, including 3-0 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 11-1 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 season 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 win. Mines is now shooting .678 from the free throw line.

STIFLING “D”: The Orediggers currently lead the RMAC and are 18th in Division II in field goal percentage defense as teams are shooting just .356 percent against Mines. CSM has held 22-of-27 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.

ON THE BOARDS: Mines has outrebounded its opposition in 20 games this season and ranks 16th in the NCAA with an 8.2 rebounding differential. The Orediggers have three players who have grabbed at least 100 rebounds this season, led by sophomore center Ashley Gronewoller who has 215. Sophomore forward Heather Angel (163) and junior guard Kim Kilmer (104) have also topped the century mark in rebounding.

BIG IMPROVEMENT: After going just 4-23 last season, the Orediggers made the largest improvement in school-history by winning eight more games and posting a 12-15 mark this year. It was one game better than the 1994-95 team which made a seven game improvement over the 1993-94 season.

MINES IN THE TOURNAMENT: The Orediggers will be making their fourth overall appearance in the RMAC Tournament and second in the last three years. Two years ago, Mines dropped a 69-44 decision at Nebraska-Kearney in the first round. In addition, Mines lost at Mesa State, 61-55, during the 2000-01 season and also dropped a 63-60 game at Mesa State in the 1995-96 season.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE: The top eight teams in the RMAC qualified for the postseason tournament. The schedule is as follows ...

Wednesday, March 3, 2004 - at higher seed
#8 Fort Hays (15-12, 10-9 RMAC) at #1 Nebraska-Kearney (22-5, 16-3 RMAC) 5:00 pm
#5 Mesa State (17-10, 13-6 RMAC) at #4 Regis (19-8, 14-5 RMAC) 7:00 pm
#6 Metro State (12-15, 10-9 RMAC) at #3 CSU-Pueblo (19-8, 15-4 RMAC) 7:00 pm
#7 Colorado Mines (12-15, 10-9 RMAC) at #2 Fort Lewis (21-6, 15-4 RMAC) 6:00 pm

Saturday, March 6, 2004 - at World Arena in Colorado Springs
Fort Hays State/Nebraska-Kearney winner vs. Mesa State/Regis winner 11:00 am
Metro State/CSU-Pueblo winner vs. Colorado Mines/Fort Lewis winner 4:00 pm

Saturday, March 6, 2004 - at World Arena in Colorado Springs
Semifinal Winners 1:00 pm

To view a complete bracket of the tournament, visit the following link...

http://www.rmacsports.org/2004rmacshootoutbracket.pdf