COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL WEEKLY NOTES #5

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Colorado Mines at Wayne State (Neb.)
Friday, December 19, 2003
7:00 pm • Wayne, Neb.

Colorado Mines at South Dakota
Saturday, December 20, 2003
3:00 pm • Vermillion, S.D.

No. Probable Starters Ht. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG APG
20 Kristen Horkey 6-0 Jr. Fort Collins, Colo. 5.9 2.4 1.0
30 Heather Hoops 5-8 Jr. Golden, Colo. 3.1 1.9 2.0
32 Heather Angel 5-11 So. Littleton, Colo. 12.3 5.9 2.1
42 Gina Cornelio 5-10 Jr. Tucson, Ariz. 4.3 5.1 2.0
44 Ashley Gronewoller 6-3 So. Pagosa Springs, Colo. 18.6 11.0 0.3

No. Off the Bench Ht. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG APG
14 Lindsay Orchard 5-8 Fr. Salt Lake City, Utah 1.3 0.3 0.1
15 Jessica Neumiller 5-5 Sr. Casper, Wyo. 4.7 2.0 0.6
22 Kim Kilmer 5-9 Jr. Stoneham, Colo. 6.7 4.3 3.1
25 Bara Zahnasova 6-0 Sr. Boulder, Colo. 1.9 1.9 0.1
40 Shannon Griep 5-10 Fr. Longmont, Colo. 0.7 0.0 0.3
45 Katie Cunio 6-0 Sr. Canyon City, Colo. 3.1 2.6 0.3
55 Angela Pearson 6-0 Fr. Arvada, Colo. 1.0 0.6 0.0

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 School of 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 not return to competitive action until after the New Year when it hosts Mesa State for a 6:00 pm tipoff on Jan. 3 in Volk Gymnasium.

LAST TIME OUT (12/13/03): Colorado School of Mines sophomore center Ashely Gronewoller notched her third straight double-double and the Orediggers overcame an early 10-point deficit to post a 75-71 victory at CU-Colorado Springs. UCCS raced out to a 16-6 lead six minutes into the game, but Mines would rally to slice its deficit to 35-32 at halftime. CSM opened the second half on a 16-4 run to claim its largest lead of the game (48-39) with 13:12 to play. However, the Mountain Lions regained the lead at 56-54 with 8:56 to play on a layup from Elise Hazelwood. Mines would take the lead for good (62-61) on a free throw from junior guard Kim Kilmer and the team would knock down 10-of-12 free throws in the closing minutes to hold on for the victory. Gronewoller produced game-highs in points (26) and rebounds (17) and added two blocked shots. Sophomore forward Heather Angel recorded 17 points, six boards and four assists, while Kilmer added 11 points, seven boards and dished out four assists.

ABOUT WAYNE STATE: WSC is 6-4 overall, including 5-1 at home this season. Ashley Arndorfer leads the team in scoring at 13.7 points per game and averages 4.6 boards per night. Kristin Humphries posts 13.0 points and a team-high 6.4 rebounds per game and Allison Steffan averages 7.7 points per game. As a team, Wayne shoots 40 percent from the field and holds its opponents to 38 percent.

ABOUT SOUTH DAKOTA: South Dakota enters the week at 11-1 overall and ranked fourth in the latest Division II poll and has won 10 straight games. The Coyotes are led by All-American Mandy Koupal who posts 21.4 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. She shoots 51 percent from the floor and has tallied 23 steals and 15 blocks. Eric Bourne averages 10.5 points and 1.7 boards per night, while Meghan Woster posts 9.2 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. As a team, USD shoots 44 percent and holds its opponents to 36 percent shooting.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sophomore center Ashley Gronewoller was named the RMAC East Division Player of the Week after averaging 25.0 points and 15.5 rebounds in two road wins last week and shooting 76 percent from the floor (16-21).

SUPER SOPH: Sophomore center Ashley Gronewoller is making a strong case for all-conference honors this season. The 6-foot-3 Preseason All-RMAC East Division selection is third in the RMAC in scoring (18.6 ppg) and second in rebounding (11.0 rpg) and field goal percentage (.644). She has posted three straight double doubles and is tied for first in the conference with four overall.

AN ANGEL AMONG US: Sophomore forward Heather Angel is building upon her strong rookie campaign last season in which she was an Honorable Mention All-East Division honoree. Angel is second on the team in both scoring (12.3 ppg) and rebounding (5.9 rpg). She is also shooting 54 percent from the floor, an amazing 64 percent from three point land and 85 percent from the charity stripe. Angel is also second on the team with 15 assists.

HOOPER DUPER: Junior guard Heather Hoops is back after earning Honorable Mention All-RMAC East Division honors last season when she posted 5.7 points, 2.0 rebounds and led the team with 51 assists and 35 steals. She leads the team with nine steals this season.

NEW FACES: Three freshman will join the team this season, guard Lindsay Orchard and forwards Shannon Griep and Angela Pearson.

IMPROVED CHARITY: After going just 19-of-43 (.442) from the free throw line in its first two games, both losses, the Orediggers have regrouped to go 101-of-144 (.701) from the charity stripe in the last three games. In Saturday’s win at UCCS, the Orediggers went to the line a school-record 48 times and hit on 34.

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), fourth in rebounding (4.3 rpg) and leads the team with 22 assists. In last weekend’s two wins, she averaged 9.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game.

SPREAD THE MINUTES: Of the nine returning players from last season, eight averaged at least 10 minutes of action per game last season, while the ninth averaged 9.4 minutes per night. This year, nine players are averaging double figures in minutes.

ROAD WOES GONE: 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.

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.

HOMECOMING: CSM Head Coach Paula Krueger and assistant coach Mike Jacobsma will both be making Homecomings this weekend. On Friday, Mines will play at Wayne State, the alma mater of Coach Jacobsma and also the place where he got his start as an assistant coach (2001-03). On Saturday, Krueger will return to the State of South Dakota where she served as an assistant coach at Northern State for six years before leaving for Mines this past summer to take the head job.