Kearney, Neb. - The Colorado School of Mines women's basketball team got a combined 43 points from post Emily Dalton and guard Angie Charchalis to edge Nebraska-Kearney, 74-71, Saturday night in Golden, Colo.

The Orediggers (11-5, 6-3 RMAC) remain a big thorn in the Lopers (3-12, 3-6 RMAC) side as they have now won six of the last nine meetings between the two, including the last three.

In the East Division standings, Mines is tied with Colorado Christian for 1st with UNK sitting in 4th place along with Chadron State. This year, the top four teams in each division make the RMAC Tournament.

Moment of the Game
Mines got out of the gates quickly, leading by seven points five minutes in. After UNK came back to grab a four point lead, the 'Diggers built another seven point advantage and were up four, 36-32, at the break

The lead stayed between two and seven points for the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half.  A three point play, however, by Dalton at the 7:34 mark gave the Orediggers its biggest lead of the night, 60-46.

That's when UNK made its move, going on a 24-12 run to cut the deficit to only two points, 72-70, with 21 seconds to go.

Mines then made one of two free throws to go ahead by three and then fouled the Lopers. After each team went 1 of 2 at the line in a 10 second span, a possible game tying shot from sophomore Vanessa Leeper missed the mark at time expired.

The much bigger Orediggers blocked 14 shots but UNK managed to grab the ball on several of them and that led to a 41-34 UNK rebounding advantage. Despite a 20-9 edge on the offensive glass, Mines held the lead in 2nd chance points, 12-11.

UNK did commit a season-low 10 turnovers and went 20 of 29 at the line.

Lopers of the Game
Leeper (So., F, Colorado Springs) - team-high 13 points on 6 of 12 FG shooting, 7 rebounds
Kim Thissen (Sr., F, Davenport, Ia.) - 12 points & 10 rebounds (1st career double double)
Tessa Kreutzer (So., G, Holdrege) - 12 points on 3 of 4 FG shooting & 5 of 6 FT shooting (tied career high point total)
Kelsey Lane (Fr., F, Omaha) - 10 points in 17 minutes off the bench
Bailey Halbur (Fr., F, Manning, Ia.) 7 points in 9 minutes off the bench (second collegiate game)

Opponent Notes
Dalton scored 22 points on 8 of 11 FG shooting, 7 rebounds, 2 steals
Charchalis scored 21 points on 5 of 12 3-point shooting, 5 rebounds, 4 assists
Reserve Katie Carty had 8 points, 7 blocks, 6 rebounds

Up Next
UNK is at Chadron State on Tuesday and hosts UCCS next Saturday afternoon