RAPID CITY, S.D.  The Mountaineers had already punched their ticket into the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference playoffs, but they also secured a first-round home playoff game after Saturday's 70-44 win over host South Dakota Mines, along with other results on the day that bring the RMAC tournament to Paul Wright Gym for the second consecutive season.

JUST THE FACTS
Final score: Western def. S.D. Mines, 70-44
Records: Western 16-10 overall (14-6 RMAC), SDM 9-19 (7-13)
Location: King Center, Rapid City, S.D.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Mountaineers took control of the game with Alyssa Eckroth's 3-pointer that gave Western a lead, 3-2, that would only grow from that point forward.
• Chloe Daniels would soon follow with a tip-in off a rebound, and Rori Hoffmeyer did the same a minute later for a 7-4 lead as Western dominated the glass.
• On the way to a 20-7 lead at the end of the first quarter, Ivey Schmidt and Micah Wicks added one 3-pointer each to Eckroth's triple, while defensively Daniels, Jacy Chandler and Wicks would come away with steals to stall the Hardrockers' offense.
• The second quarter was more of the same as the Mountaineers allowed SDM to close within nine points on three occasion, each time though, responding with driving layups to push the advantage back into double digits.
• A 36-20 halftime lead evolved into a 55-34 lead after three quarters, and eventually the 26-point gap at the end of the game.

COURT NOTES

• For the second game in a row Western had four players reach double figures in scoring, paced by Schmidt's game-high 16 points.
• From there, Jayda Maves (11), Eckroth (10) and Penelope Urquhart (10) helped the offense spread the wealth.
• Hoffmeyer and Schmidt, with eight rebounds each, would help the Mountaineers to a 39-29 rebounding advantage, with 13 of those coming off the offensive rim. That translated into 19 second-chance points for Western.
• With nine steals in the game, the Mountaineers closed out the weekend with 19 combined steals after Thursday's win at Chadron State. On Saturday, Urquhart had 3 steals and five others had at least 1 theft.

PLAYOFFS

• Western's win coupled with a Black Hills State loss against No. 4 Colorado Mesa, left the Mountaineers and Yellow Jackets tied at 14-6 in the RMAC standings.
• The tiebreaker was the head-to-head matchup won by Western, 75-74, in Gunnison, on January 24, lifting the Mountaineers to fourth place in the final league standings while dropping Black Hills State to fifth place.

UP NEXT
Western will host the Yellow Jackets in a first-round RMAC playoff game on Tuesday, March 3 at 6:30 p.m. in Paul Wright Gym.