COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL WEEKLY NOTES #9

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Colorado School of Mines at Colorado Christian
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
6:00 pm • Lakewood, Colo.

Colorado School of Mines at Regis
Saturday, January 24, 2004
1:00 pm • Denver, Colo.

No. Probable Starters Ht. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG APG
20 Kristin Horkey 6-0 Jr. Fort Collins, Colo. 4.9 2.5 1.4
22 Kim Kilmer 5-9 Jr. Stoneham, Colo. 6.5 4.4 2.5
30 Heather Hoops 5-8 Jr. Golden, Colo. 5.3 2.1 2.1
32 Heather Angel 5-11 So. Littleton, Colo. 10.4 5.9 1.7
44 Ashley Gronewoller 6-3 So. Pagosa Springs, Colo. 15.1 8.9 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 0.4
15 Jessica Neumiller 5-5 Sr. Casper, Wyo. 6.1 2.0 1.0
25 Bara Zahnasova 6-0 Sr. Boulder, Colo. 1.3 1.8 0.3
40 Shannon Griep 5-10 Fr. Longmont, Colo. 0.3 0.5 0.5
42 Gina Cornelio 5-10 Jr. Tucson, Ariz. 4.3 4.4 1.4
45 Katie Cunio 6-0 Sr. Canyon City, Colo. 2.9 3.8 0.3
55 Angela Pearson 6-0 Fr. Arvada, Colo. 3.2 2.4 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 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 return home to play Fort Hays State on Jan. 30 and Nebraska-Kearney on Jan 31. Both games are slated for 6:00 pm in Volk Gym.

LAST TIME OUT (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 Saturday night in Volk Gymnasium. Sophomore center Ashley Gronewoller notched her sixth double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds and also tallied three blocked shots. Junior guard Heather Hoops totaled 10 points, junior guard Gina Cornelio scored 10 points and grabbed six boards, while freshman center Angela Pearson scored a career-high 10 points and added three boards.

ABOUT COLORADO CHRISTIAN: The Cougars enter the week at 0-14 overall and 0-7 in the RMAC after dropping home games to Fort Lewis (74-45) and Adams State (61-49) over the weekend. Rhianna Dickinson leads the squad in scoring at 12.6 points per game. Jeanee Burton contributes 6.1 points and a team-best 6.1 rebounds per game and Monica Chase averages 7.2 points and 2.3 boards per contest.

LAST TIME vs. CCU (2/25/03): The Colorado Mines women’s basketball team dropped a 64-53 decision at Colorado Christian. Mines, which trailed 34-28 at the half, was led by Ashley Gronewoller who tallied her sixth double-double of the season with 15 points and a game-high 11 boards. Heather Hoops added 14 points and three rebounds, while CCU was led by Sarah Orth’s game-high 18 points and six rebounds.

ABOUT REGIS: The Rangers begin the week at 10-5 overall and 5-2 in the RMAC after knocking off Mesa State, 55-48, on Saturday to run their win streak to four games. Lindsay Viall led the way with 12 points and eight rebounds. For the season, Regis is led by Kristina Vengryte who leads the RMAC in scoring (18.5 ppg) and is 26th in rebounding (5.1 rpg). Keely O’Dell (13.4 ppg) and Viall (10.0 ppg) also average double figures, while O’Dell leads the team in rebounding with 5.2 per game.

LAST TIME vs. REGIS (3/1/03): The Colorado Mines women’s basketball team concluded its 2002-03 campaign with a 76-71 overtime loss at Regis. Trailing 63-62, CSM had a chance to win the game on its last possession as Heather Hoops missed a jumper with two seconds left and Ashley Gronewoller got the rebound and was fouled as she attempted a putback with one second left. Gronewoller hit the first free throw to knot the game at 63-63, but missed the second and the game went to overtime. In the extra session, Ranger forward Molly Marrin nailed a three-pointer with 2:04 to play to give her team the lead for good at 72-71. The Rangers then hit four straight free throws down the stretch to seal the win. Mines received a career-high 23 points and seven rebounds from Heather Angel and the Rangers were led by Rachel Caliga’s 16-points, six rebound effort.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: 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).

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 fourth in the league in scoring (15.1 ppg) and is second in rebounding (8.9 rpg) and field goal percentage (.626). She is tied for second in the RMAC with six double-doubles, including two straight.

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 (10.4 ppg) and rebounding (5.9 rpg) and is an amazing 47 percent from three point land, which is second in the RMAC, and 87 percent from the charity stripe.

ANOTHER “ANGEL”AMONG US: Freshman forward Angela Pearson has come on strong over the last four games in which she is averaging 7.3 points and 3.5 rebounds per game off the bench.

HOOP IT UP: Junior guard Heather Hoops had a solid week in helping Mines to a 3-0 mark. 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 5.3 points per game and is second on the team in steals (13) and assists (32).

CLEANING UP THE GLASS: The Orediggers have won the battle of the boards in 11-of-15 games this season, including all three games last week. In a win over Colorado College on Tuesday, Mines grabbed 68 rebounds, including three players who reached double figures in rebounds. In the three wins last week, Mines outrebounded its opposition, 142-82.

DOUBLE “K”: Junior guard Kim Kilmer has shown her all-around game this season. She is third on the team in sccoring (6.5 ppg) and rebounding (4.4 rpg) and leads the team with 37 assists. She grabbed a career-high 11 boards in Tuesday’s win over Colorado College. In addition, Kilmer helped hold two All-RMAC players (Meagan Hoffman of Adams State and Amy Mohr of Fort Lewis) to a combined 25 points and 11 rebounds on 11-of-27 shooting from the floor last weekend. Combined, the duo is averaging 32.2 points and 15.7 rebounds per game.

SOMETHING “NEU”: Senior guard Jessica Neumiller is giving the Orediggers a spark off the bench this season. The Casper, Wyo., native is fourth on the team in scoring (6.1 ppg) and has hit a team-high 25 three-pointers this year.

THE DRIVE FOR FIVE: Last Tuesday’s win over Colorado College gave Mines five for the season, one more than all of last year. At 7-8, the Orediggers need three wins to reach double figure wins for the seventh time in program history and nine 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 6-1 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 three straight wins last week for the first time since the 2001-02 season when the Orediggers won three straight from Dec. 17-Jan. 5. Mines 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 Saturday’s win over Fort Lewis, 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. For the season, Mines is now shooting .654 from the free throw line.

STIFLING “D”: The Orediggers currently lead the RMAC in field goal percentage defense as teams are shooting just .352 percent against Mines. CSM has held 11-of-15 opponents under 40 percent shooting this season. In addition, CSM held Fort Lewis to a season-low 46 points on Saturday. The Skyhawks are averaging 71.7 points per game this year.