GUNNISON, Colo.  A three-game win streak was halted while on the road last weekend, but Western Colorado's women's basketball team returns home this weekend and looks to start a new winning streak when it faces Colorado School of Mines and Metropolitan State University Denver in a pair of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference games at Paul Wright Gym.

THE HISTORY

• In a series that began in 1979, Western carries a 38-33 lead into Thursday's game with Colorado Mines. The Orediggers, though, have been chipping away at that series deficit, winning each of the past eight meetings.
• MSU Denver is 14-8 against Western Colorado, but the Mountaineers have won the last two games, including a 78-70 victory in Denver earlier this season.

WESTERN COLORADO (13-6 overall, 8-4 RMAC) HEADING INTO THE WEEKEND | LEADERS AND STATS

• The three-game win streak led the Mountaineers into a tie atop the RMAC standings, a position that was ceded with losses at UC Colorado Springs and at Colorado Christian University. However, those defeats only slid Western down one spot in the standings as it is tied for second with three other teams.
• The Mountaineers are scoring at a 61.7 points per game clip, 13th in the RMAC, but they continue to be the toughest team to score against, leading the league at 55.4 points per game allowed, a scoring margin of +6.4 that is second best in the conference.
• Led by Rachel Cockman's 7.6 rebounds per game along with 6.2 from Ivey Schmidt and 5.5 RPG by Brooklyn Seymour, Western posts a 40.6 RPG average, which is best in the RMAC. And the Mountaineers are nearly averaging a double-digit gap off the glass, posting a league-high +9.5 rebounding margin.
• Cockman and Schmidt average double figures in the offensive zone, Cockman scoring 12.0 PPG and Schmidt nearly her equal at 11.7 PPG.
• Jayde Tschritter and Jayda Maves have combined for more than half the made 3-pointers on the season, Tschritter leading the way with 34 triples and Maves knocking down 28 so far this season.
• As a team, Western is shooting 40 percent from the floor this season, including 30% from behind the arc.

COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES (8-12, 6-6) HEADING INTO THE WEEKEND | LEADERS AND STATS

• The Orediggers also had a three-game winning streak stopped last weekend, escaping with an 81-76 overtime victory for their third straight before falling to Adams State, 88-78, on Saturday afternoon. CSM is tied for seventh in the RMAC standings.
• Fifth in the league at 65.2 PPG, Mines' sub-.500 record is due, in part, to a minus-2.8 scoring margin.
• They have been solid off the glass with 38.1 RPG and averaging a +3.9 rebounding margin. Josephine Howery leads the team with a total of 113 rebounds, 71 of those coming in the defensive end.
• Mines get the bulk of its scoring from three players averaging double figures. Jenna Siebert's 19.3 PPG leads Howery (11.1) and Emma Sixta (11.0), who combine for 63% of the team's points.
• Siebert, with 40 treys, and Sixta's 29 lead the Orediggers from long range.

MSU DENVER (6-14, 5-7) HEADING INTO THE WEEKEND | LEADERS AND STATS

• The Roadrunners take a three-game losing streak into a Thursday night game at league leader Colorado Mesa University. At 5-7 in conference play, they sit tied for 10th in the RMAC standings.
• MSU Denver is in the bottom half of the league in scoring (62.7 PPG) and its minus-7.3 scoring margin ranks 12th in the 15-team league.
• At 33.0 rebounds per game, the Roadrunners are 14th in the conference, as does also their minus-7.4 rebounding margin.
• Mikylah Espinosa averages 14.7 PPG, and gets help in the offensive end from Nevaeh Millard's 10.4 PPG mark. Espinosa also leads the team in rebounding (4.7 RPG) and steals (66 total).

UP NEXT
Western is back on the road next weekend, playing RMAC contests at Adams State on Feb. 13 and at Fort Lewis on Feb. 15.