Black Hills State University women's basketball is back in the A2 Arena at the Donald E. Young Center this weekend for another pair of RMAC matchups on Friday and Saturday evenning with matchups slated against the MSU Denver Roadrunners and the No. 23/11 Colorado School of Mines Orediggers. Tipoff on Friday night against MSUD is scheduled for 5 p.m. and the matchup against CSM is set for a 4 p.m. start time.
YELLOW JACKETS' LAST TIMEOUT
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Black Hills State women's basketball was in Colorado Springs on Saturday evening to take on UC-Colorado Springs. Despite a tough fight from the ladies in the fourth quarter, BHSU dropped to 1-1 in RMAC play after falling to UCCS, 63-57.
Kalla Bertram hit a game-high 19 points in the game, finishing 6-of-11 from the field and 7-of-11 from the charity stripe while dishing a pair of assists. She fell just short of a double-double and potential triple-double with eight rebounds and seven steals (another career game-high), both of which led the team.
Ellie Moore continued to be an asset on both sides of the floor as the graduate forward posted 11 points on the night. Moore completed 5-of-8 total shots in the game and made 1-of-2 from the foul line and led the team with five defensive boards, raking in a pair of steals as well.
Gracie Haneborg was the third Yellow Jacket in double digits with 10 points on the night, dropping six from the field and making all four shots from the free throw line. The junior guard also nabbed a pair of steals from the Mountain Lions in her 28 minutes on the court.
The Yellow Jackets were screaming hot out of the gate as they opened the game on an 8-0 run, courtesy of a Haneborg layup, a three-point play from Bertram, and a triple from
Jaylen Ostenson. Following a UCCS jumper that put the Mountain Lions on the board, five more unanswered points from UCCS turned into a 7-0 run for the Mountain Lions, drawing up a 10-9 scoreboard with 3:36 to go in the period. Though the Mountain Lions laid down a three-pointer, Haneborg freebies and a driving layup from
Raven Cournoyer kept BHSU on top, with both teams trading jumpers in the final minute to post a 16-14 BHSU scoreboard through one.
A three-point shot and layup from the Mountain Lions gave UCCS their first lead of the game, 19-18, as both teams continued to trade possessions throughout the first half of the second quarter. A trio of freebies from Haneborg and
Kaycee Groves tied the game, 21-21, with just over four minutes left in the half, but another 90-second, 6-0 run from UCCS kept the hosts ahead. The Mountain Lions held BHSU to three points at the end of the quarter to take a 33-27 scoreboard to the intermission.
The opening five minutes of the second half was all UCCS as the Mountain Lions held an 8-0 run through the first 4:18 of the period, molding a 41-27 lead. Layups from Cournoyer and Haneborg got the Yellow Jackets going, but another three-point shot from UCCS kept BHSU down by 14. BHSU gained stride with two minutes to go in the quarter, however, as the Green N' Gold strung together a 6-0 run to end the quarter down by ten, 48-38.
Later trailing 51-38 with 7:32 left in the game, a Cournoyer layup kicked off a dominant 10-0 run that featured four different Yellow Jacket scorers and produced a 51-48 scoreboard. The Yellow Jackets continued to dig as Bertram would put up five more points to later tie the game at 51-all, which stretched the the scoring series to 13-0.
Alessia Capley scored another bucket in the paint, which gave BHSU their first lead since the first quarter, 53-52, with 2:46 to go. Fouls and turnovers kept the game scoreless until a Bertram foul gave UCCS two from the charity stripe to lead by three, 56-53, with 1:22 left to play. Foul trouble from BHSU sent the Mountain Lions to the free throw line four more times in that time frame, allowing UCCS to escape the mighty comeback effort from the Yellow Jackets, who dropped to 1-1 on RMAC opening weekend.
FRIDAY vs. MSU Denver
The Roadrunners came into the season as the seventh-favorite squad in the RMAC following a 14-12 finish last seaosn, which included a 13-9 conference mark and an RMAC tournament appearance as the sixth seed. After a tough 1-4 start to the season in a slate of games that featured matchups against three nationally ranked opponents, the Roadrunners opened conference play with a split weekend after picking up a win over Westminster and loss against the then RV/No. 23 Colorado Mesa.
ROADRUNNERS' LAST TIMEOUT
DENVER – The MSU Denver women's basketball team got off to another slow start on Saturday, but this time the Roadrunners were unable to overcome it in a 63-43 loss to Colorado Mesa.
MSU Denver went scoreless for the first 6:47 of the game, falling behind 11-0, but scored the next five points.
However Colorado Mesa, ranked No. 23 in one national poll while receiving votes in the other, moved in front 34-17 at halftime and held off the Roadrunners the rest of the way. Mesa improved to 7-2 overall and 1-1 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, while MSU Denver dropped to 2-5 and 1-1.
Mikylah Espinosa led MSU Denver with 14 points, while Brianna Sealy added nine points, seven rebounds, two assists, two blocked shots and two steals. Freshman Amanda Byrnes had nine points and five rebounds.
After shooting just 20 percent from the field in the first half (5 of 25), MSU Denver shot 39.1 percent in the second half (9 of 23).
The Roadrunners' defense was solid once again, as it limited Mesa to 39.7 percent from the field. MSU Denver also had a 40-36 rebounding advantage, though it was minus-8 in turnovers (15-7).
MATCHUP HISTORY
Dropping last season's pair of matchups to the Roadrunners, BHSU is 9-15 over MSU Denver, with both teams last meeting at last season's RMAC Championship tournament, where the Yellow Jackets fell shy of a first-round win after dropping the game to MSUD, 56-50.
A FRIDAY BHSU WIN WOULD...
Get the Yellow Jackets back in the win column and on a 5-2 start to the year and 10-15 against MSU Denver.
A FRIDAY BHSU LOSS WOULD...
Drop the Yellow Jackets to a 5-3 start, keeping pace with last season's 7-3 season record.
 Black Hills State vs. NO. 23/11 Colorado School of Mines 
SATURDAY, DEC. 9 // 4 P.M. // SPEARFISH, S.D. // A2 ARENA AT DONALD E. YOUNG CENTER
Live Stream / Live Stats / Radio / Tickets |
SATURDAY vs. COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES
Oredigger women's basketball finished last season with an incredible 24-7 (18-4 RMAC) season in 2022-23, only falling short to last year's RMAC Champion Regis in a game that finished with a four-point loss. Starting this year off with a near perfect 5-1 start, with the only loss coming from No. 24 Texas Women's, the Orediggers started conference play with a sweep over the No. 23 Colorado Mesa in an OT shootout, and a nine-point victory over Westminster.
OREDIGGERS' LAST TIMEOUT
Double-digit scoring from Jenna Siebert and Ashley Steffeck guided the #16-ranked Colorado School of Mines Women's Basketball team to a 69-60 win against Westminster on Saturday night at Lockridge Arena.
Siebert's game resume included 11 points, three rebounds, three assists, and one steal. Steffeck finished touting 12 points, five steals, five assists, and one rebound. Also notable were nine points from Loralee Stock along with Shelby Nichols' eight-point, nine-rebound night.
Mines (7-1, 2-0 RMAC) extended its win streak to five games after forcing Westminster (2-4, 0-2 RMAC) to turn the ball over 22 times. The Orediggers also earned a 35-34 edge in rebounding, but shot just 37 percent from the floor including a 26-percent mark from three-point range. The Griffins converted at a 46-percent clip and had 38 points in the paint. The Orediggers also benefited from 18 points off turnovers and 22 points off their bench.
The score was never tied past 0-0 and the lead never changed hands on Saturday evening during the early show at Lockridge Arena. Mines went 4-for-6 from three-point range in a 26-point first quarter to take a 26-15 lead after 10 minutes of action. Stock and Suni Davis combined for 13 of those opening-period points. Nichols poured in eight second-quarter points while Steffeck stacked up three steals in the frame. That helped the Orediggers keep the Griffins at bay as Mines carried a 43-29 lead into halftime.
Siebert and Steffeck totaled 11 points in the third frame, and Steffeck added four more in the final period to get the job done. Nichols also pulled down seven rebounds through the second half to help clinch the win. The Griffins scored nine unanswered points in the fourth quarter. Westminster's Maunayia Harrigfeld notched a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double and Za'kkria Robinson led all players with 14 points.
MATCHUP HISTORY
The Yellow Jackets and Orediggers series is on a tight 10-8 record in favor of BHSU. Colorado School of Mines, however, won both matchups against BHSU last season.
COACHES
In his 22nd season as head coach of the Yellow Jackets,
Mark Nore led BHSU to their sixth RMAC tournament appearance in a row last season, with their NCAA tournament appearance marking the third time the BHSU ladies have competed in the tournament since their DII integration in 2013.
A three-time Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference coach of the year, Tanya Haave is in her her 14th season as the head coach of the Roadrunners in 2023-24 and is now 237-138 as the Roadrunners' head coach.
Brittany Simpson became the winningest coach in the history of Colorado School of Mines Women's Basketball at the start of her ninth season on Dec. 4, 2020 in a 68-53 win over South Dakota Mines inside Lockridge Arena. The 2022-23 season marked Coach Simpson's 11th season as the head coach for the Orediggers, where she has amassed a 198-114 record in her time at the helm.
-BHSUAthletics.com-
