By Brad Blume, Sports Information Director
RAPID CITY --- The season is winding down for the South Dakota School of Mines men's and women's basketball teams. This weekend marks the last doubleheader of the year and it is shaping up to be a big one with the University of Sioux Falls and Minot State descending on the King Center.
It will also be the first time ever on the Goodell Gymnasium floor that all teams involved in the doubleheader are NCAA Div. II. Both USF and Minot are in their third year of transition and will be full-fledged members of the NCAA next year and also be members of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference while the Hardrockers are in the second year of transition to Div. II.
The Hardrocker squads have already visited both Sioux Falls and Minot earlier this season. Both SDM squads fell to the Cougars in Sioux Falls while the Hardrocker men defeated the MSU Beavers in North Dakota and the Lady Hardrockers lost a heartbreaker (70-67) to the Lady Beavers.
The Lady Hardrockers are primed for this weekend. They are on a six-game winning streak and have won 11 of their last 14 games --- two of those losses at the hands of Minot and USF. Overall, SD Mines is 14-8 on the year. Minot State comes in at .500 (10-10) and Sioux Falls boasts an impressive 16-3 mark on the season.
The Lady Hardrockers will have their hands full this weekend --- that for sure, but they are playing some solid basketball at this point in the season. The team is gelling as a unit, with strong defense and balanced scoring which is making it difficult for opposing teams to matchup against.
Individually, sophomore Justine Blade is having a stellar season. She is averaging 12.2 points a game and is on pace to break the record for blocks in a season. She currently has 52 this year and is trying to reach 63 set by Bethany Holyoak during the 2009-10 campaign. Blade has been averaging around three rejections a contest and if she keeps that up, the record is all hers.
Junior Hillary Hawkins leads the Lady Hardrockers in scoring, averaging 13.2 a game and has a total of 290 on the year. Teams are becoming extremely concerned with her as she has been very accurate from the perimeter knocking down 52 three-point goals already this season.
Sophomore Janelle Strampe is also making her presence known. She's earned double-doubles the previous two games and has sparked the Hardrockers with her explosive offensive starts. She is currently averaging 8.4 points a game and leads the team in rebounds (138) averaging 6.3 each contest.
The Lady 'Rockers are also getting production out of junior Katie Strandholm (10.6 ppg), senior Shalane Hampp (8.1 ppg) and senior Ariel Granillo (7.4 ppg).
On the men's side, the Hardrockers have been fighting injuries all season long but still managed to stay above .500 with a 13-10 overall mark and are riding the momentum of a four-game winning streak. Sioux Falls comes in with a 12-8 record while Minot has struggled this season posting an overall mark of 2-15.
The Hardrockers have had a very difficult schedule against some quality opponents. A big factor in the above .500 performance has to be credited to the senior leadership of Nate Jacobson, Tanner Friesen, Tommy Smith and Kyle Doerr.
Friesen leads the charge averaging 14.3 points per game and scoring over 19 the last four games (19, 23 ,22, 29). He is accurate on the perimeter with 30 three-point goals so far this year and shooting 71 percent from the free throw line (57-80).
Doerr has been a real asset under the basket as he averages 12.6 markers each bout, but he also excels at seeing the open man, tallying 73 assists so far this season. Doerr is also closing in on 1,000 points as a Hardrocker. He currently has 969 in his career and needs just 31 over the next seven games.
Jacobson is also close to breaching the 1,000-point mark as he has notched 938 for his career and will need just 62 over the final seven-game stretch. Jacobson is averaging 10.2 points per game and is a great floor general for the Hardrockers as the point guard. He can also dish off the ball with 60 assists this season.
Also look for the Hardrockers to be even more amped up as the team will be competing to get men's head coach Jason Henry his 100th win of his career. In fact it will be a career win for assistant coach Eric Glenn as well as the duo has been together since Henry took over in 2005. The coaching staff's career won-loss record is currently 99-105.
The games tip-off Friday with the SD Mines women taking on the Lady Cougars at 5:30 p.m. and the men to follow at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday's action features the women taking on Minot State at 3 p.m. and the men to follow at 5 p.m.