Mines Athletics
DENVER – Oredigger graduate student Courtney Stanton surpassed 1,000 points for her career on Tuesday night as the No. 13 Colorado School of Mines Women’s Basketball team rolled to a 73-58 win at Regis.
Stanton hit 1,000 exactly with a pair of free throws in the first quarter. She ended the game leading all players with 18 points while adding five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Denali Pinto and Liz Holtermade it a trio of Orediggers scoring in double digits thanks to 11 points and 10 points, respectively. Holter also added five assists, four rebounds and two steals with Pinto grabbing seven rebounds and three steals as well. Additionally, Sammy Van Sickle returned to the court after four games away and produced eight rebounds, five points, five assists and one steal. Her production on the glass led all players in the game.
Mines (19-3, 14-2 RMAC) clinched a berth in the 2022 RMAC Tournament with Tuesday’s win while dealing Regis (9-13, 5-11 RMAC) its eighth consecutive loss. The Orediggers earned the victory behind a 42-31 rebounding margin including a 17-8 discrepancy on the offensive glass. That led to 18 second-chance points while the Rangers only had three points on second chances. Mines’ notorious defense also turned RU over 18 times while collecting 13 steals. The visitors capped the performance by converting over 41 percent of their shots including five three-point baskets.
Tuesday’s rescheduled rematch between Mines and Regis played out in starkly different fashion compared to the meeting in Golden earlier this season. The first showdown on Nov. 30, 2021, required game-clinching free throws down the stretch for the Orediggers to get the win. The contest inside Regis Field House resulted in multiple runs by the visitors and a lead as big as 27 points in the third quarter.
The Rangers did score first which eventually resulted in three ties and five lead changes. That being said, RU only held the lead for a total of 46 seconds before Mines stormed back and did not look back. The Orediggers’ initial response featured a 6-0 run before RU tied the game at 10-10. The Rangers even took the lead again at 11-10. However, Stanton’s milestone free throws pushed the visitors ahead, 12-11, and sparked a 9-0 run to close the first quarter. That run transformed into a 16-3 surge in the second quarter, lasting 4:23 of game clock before Regis called a timeout. That break stemmed the tide and the Rangers climbed back within single digits, but the Orediggers rolled out another 9-0 to end the half. After 20 minutes of action, Mines boasted a 43-26 lead.
Once again, the visitors parlayed their run from one quarter into the next as the Orediggers stacked 9-0 into 19-0 to start the third quarter. That included Mines’ defense holding RU scoreless for more than five minutes of game action. Megan Van de Graaf’s jumper at the 7:11 mark of the third quarter afforded the visitors a 53-28 advantage, their largest of the game. Notable was one point in the third frame where Regis was shooting 80 percent from the field while Mines was converting at a 70-percent clip with just three missed shots in the period between both teams. Despite the hot shooting, the home team could not gain ground on the 28-point gap Mines had built. By the time the Orediggers opened the fourth quarter shooting just 9.1 percent from the field, it was too late. Mines ate the 19-12, RU advantage in the final period and walked away with the double-digit win.
Mines now boasts 29 wins in the all-time series against Regis including seven straight victories against the Rangers.
Stanton is the 11th Oredigger to score 1,000 career points in the history of the program and gives Mines’ 2022 squad two 1,000-point scorers as she joined all-time leading scorer Denali Pinto in the elite group.
Ashley Steffeck’s two steals on Tuesday night put her over 200 for her career. She currently ranks #4 on Mines’ all-time, single-season and career steals lists with 201 and 89, respectively.
Holter’s five assists pushed her into a tie for No. 7 on the Orediggers’ single-season assists list. She passed Anne Ralph’s 95 assists from 1987-88 and matched Anna Kollmorgen’s 97 dimes from 2017-18.
Coach Simpson is 168-104 in her 10th season as head coach.
Mines returns home Feb. 11-12 to host Fort Lewis on Friday and Western Colorado on Saturday.