Lady Orediggers land longest win streak of season

The CSM Lady Orediggers took to the court on Saturday evening in Silver City, New Mexico seeking their fourth consecutive victory and what would be their longest winning streak of the season. With the help of a balanced offensive effort, Mines succeeded in taking down the Western New Mexico Mustangs by a score of 79-70.

Both teams took a few minutes to get into the rhythm of the game, missing several shots apiece in the early stages of the game, and the Mustangs were able to lead by as much as four points. However, CSM was able to get their three point shooting game going very well, and in a short time the 4-0 NMSU lead turned into a 19-8 Oredigger lead. For the remainder of the half it was all Mines, as the Mustangs could only manage to pull within six points at any given time and ended the half trailing CSM 41-24.

The early part of the second period of play saw the Mines lead grow to as much as 20 points over the Mustangs, but WNM remained tough and was able to cut into the Oredigger lead throughout the half. Despite the Mustangs outscoring CSM in the second half 46-38, Mines had built up a large enough lead that the WNM comeback attempt fell well short, resulting in a 79-70 CSM victory.

CSM’s offense showed very balanced play in the game, resulting in seven Orediggers scoring eight or more points on the night. Allie Grazulis led Mines scorers with 15, followed closely behind by Taylor Helbig’s 13 and Sam Rusk’s 12 off of the bench (all of which came on a 4-of-5 effort from behind the three point line). Courtney Gallo fell just short of posting a double-double in the game, finishing with eight points and eight rebounds.

The Orediggers, despite committing twice as many turnovers as the Mustangs, owned much of the rest of the team stat sheet. CSM easily outshot WNM 56.9% to 38.1%, including a 3.4% edge for Mines from three point range, as well as out-rebounding the Mustangs 41-28.

Mines will wrap up their regular season seeking a season high fifth consecutive win next Saturday at Colorado Christian. That game tips off at 5pm at CCU in Lakewood, and then the Orediggers will have their sights set on competing in the upcoming RMAC tournament.