GOLDEN, Colo. – The Colorado State University Pueblo women's basketball team struggled here on the road Friday evening as the ThunderWolves suffered a 94-58 setback to 10th-ranked Colorado School of Mines in Rocky Mountain Conference action at Lockridge Arena.
 
With the setback, CSU Pueblo drops its second straight games and moves its record to 8-6 overall and 5-3 in the RMAC, while Mines won its 10th straight game to improve to 12-1 overall and 8-0 in the league.
 
The Pack will look to snap its two-game losing skid with a 4 p.m. game on Saturday, Jan. 7 in Denver, Colo., against Metro State University. Metro State picked up 61-52 home win on Friday over New Mexico Highlands. 
 
Graduate student guard Morgan Dial (Denver City, Texas/Western Texas College) paced the ThunderWolves offensively with 13 points, while sophomore Daeja Johnson (Queen Creek, Ariz./Casteele) added 11 points and graduate student guard JaNaiya Davis (Hewitt, Texas/Midway) tallied 10 points and added four rebounds and four assists.
 
Mines, though, held CSU Pueblo's leading scorer, graduate student Charisse Fairley (Colorado Springs, Colo./Fresno State) scoreless as she took just two shots in the game. Fairley entered the game averaging 14.3 points per game on the season.
 
CSU Pueblo, who was playing its first game of the 2023 calendar year, struggled to take care of the basketball as they finished the game with 21 turnovers that led to 27 points for the Orediggers, including committing 13 of those turnovers in the first half. Along with committing 21 turnovers, the Pack was also outrebounded, 44-24, including Mines collecting 18 offensive boards that led to 22 second chance points.
 
Mines jumped out to a 7-0 lead just 92 seconds into the game and led 14-4 just five minutes into the contest. Following that opening run by the Orediggers, CSU Pueblo would score eight of the next 12 points to pull within 16-12 with 1:53 left in the opening quarter. That run was aided by four points from sophomore guard Landri Hudson (Aurora, Colo./Wyoming).
 
A 3-pointer from Jessica Rios helped jump start an 8-0 run by Mines to close the first quarter that pushed the Orediggers lead to 24-12 after the opening 10 minutes of play.
 
After leading by 12 points after the opening quarter, Mines outscored the Pack, 25-12, in the second quarter to hold a 49-24 lead at the half.
 
In the first half, CSU Pueblo committed 13 turnovers that led to 15 points for the Orediggers. Mines also held a 22-13 edge on the boards, including 10 offensive boards that led to 10 second chance points.
 
Mines outscored the Pack, 29-15, in the third quarter to extend its 25-point halftime lead to 78-39 heading into the final period.
 
After Mines opened the fourth quarter by scoring the first five points to push its lead out to 83-39, the ThunderWolves would use an 8-3 run capped by a trey from Dial to cut Mines' lead to 86-47 with 4:57 left in the game.
 
The Orediggers would respond by scoring five straight points to extend its lead back out to 91-47, before CSU Pueblo closed out the game by outscoring Mines, 11-3, to set the final score. Senior guard Jalen Long (Moreno Valley, Calif./Eastern Arizona College) scored the final five points of the game. In fact, Long and Dial combined to score nine of CSU Pueblo's final nine points.
 
Megan Van de Graaf paced four Orediggers in double figures with 19 points and she added 11 rebounds for a double-double. Ashley Steffeck added 15 points, while Shelby Nichols tallied 14 points and nine rebounds off the bench and Josephine Howery, who is the older sister of CSU Pueblo men's basketball freshman guard Sam Howery (Colorado Springs, Colo./St. Mary's), scored 11 points in the win.
 
For the game, CSU Pueblo shot 37 percent from the field and 38 percent from the 3-point line, while Mines shot 50 percent from the field and 37 percent from long distance.
 
Both teams were strong at the free throw line as CSU Pueblo was 14-for-16 (87.5 percent) at the line, while Mines was 18-for-22 (81.8 percent).
 
Mines committed 16 turnovers, including 10 of those in the second half. The Pack scored 20 points of those 16 turnovers.
 
Mines finished with 17 steals and blocked two shots, while the Pack had seven steals and one block. Mines also finished with 21 assists to 10 for CSU Pueblo.