(lansing@mscd.edu)
Photos by Dawn Madura, Cora Kemp
(dmadura@mscd.edu, ckemp4@mscd.edu)
A seemingly innocent loose ball headed toward the baseline. Three players raced after it as if their life depended on it. As if their life depended on it? The players wouldn’t have it any other way.In the championship game of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament, the Colorado School of Mines and Colorado State University at Pueblo were on a crash course for history, but it was another collision that caused for pause.
CSU-Pueblo forward Mary Rehfeld swiped the ball from two Mines players who missed their chance at the rebound, but unfortunately, didn’t miss each other.
Mines forward Brecca Gaffney, 6-foot-8-inches ran head first into Mines guard Peanut Eickelman, 5-foot-8-inches. The smack echoed around the arena and the once boisterous championship crowd quickly silenced and everyone stared in horror, as two players lay injured on the court.
Gaffney was knocked out cold, as the crown of her head drove into Eickelman’s face, which was swelling up before she hit the floor. Trainers and families raced to their aid. The crowd stood in awe of the train wreck they just witnessed. Gaffney was taken to the hospital with possible head and neck injuries and Eickelman was carried to the locker room with a possibly swollen face.
But despite the nightmare of this brutal event that could have ended the careers or even the lives of the two athletes, this is how they leave everything they have on the floor for the game they love.“It’s a testament to how hard they play this game,” Mines head coach Paula Krueger said. “They are willing to put their bodies on the line. They are not going to go down with a fight.”
This event epitomized what the 2009 RMAC Shootout was all about. The tournament beared witnessed to the 100 or so athletes clawing, racing and screaming toward a championship.
From the conditioning exercises of the offseason to the waning seconds of the postseason, these Division II athletes sacrificed everything to be that last team standing at the end of the tournament.
Fort Lewis was the top seed entering the tournament, compiling an astonishing 18-1 record in the RMAC. The Skyhawks reached No. 2 on the national rankings and were the consummate favorites to win the RMAC crown.CSU-Pueblo, their semifinal opponent, had other plans. The Thunderwolves had won two of the past three shootout titles, including a semifinal upset of the Skyhawks last year.
Pueblo guard Rachel Espinoza, who was an integral part of last year’s championship as a freshman, rose to the occasion again scoring 18 points, grabbing five rebounds and dishing out six assists to take down the No. 1 seed for the second straight year.
Fort Lewis head coach Mark Kellogg could only hang his head in wonderment, as his team failed for the second year in a row to come away with the title, despite leading the best team during regular season.
“It’s no fun to play Pueblo in Pueblo every single year which seems to be our matchup,” Kellogg said. “It would be a lie to say that they don’t have a home-court advantage. But when we laid the egg, we just laid. It wouldn’t have mattered.”
While the women’s team had to unexpectedly pack up and head home, the men’s team was just heating up. Last year’s RMAC tournament champs rode the shoulders of a big man new to the shootout.
In his team’s semifinal contest with Colorado Christian on March 7, Fort Lewis center Kirk Archibeque, the 6-foot-9-inch 255-pound behemoth displayed raw power and emotion with rim-rocking dunks and brute strength. He scored 36 of his team’s 92 points leading his team one step closer to RMAC gold.
In the other semifinal games, No. 3 seeded Mines women upset No. 2 seed Nebraska-Kearney in a game of gritty half-court basketball that outlasted the Lopers’ run-and-gun offense. The No. 1 Metro Roadrunners outlasted a scrappy CSU-Pueblo team to advance to the men’s title game.
While there was no tomorrow for four of the eight teams that began the shootout, the remaining teams had to muster up enough energy and stamina to fight through another emotionally charged game. However, championship glory was at stake for March 8 winners.
The first of the day’s battles featured the slugfest between Mines and Thunderwolves women’s team. Not only was the RMAC trophy up for grabs, but also a trip to the NCAA Tournament was on the line. The winner moved on to the big dance, while the loser picked up their basketball and left to think “what if.”
This game was one of attrition as bodies banged in the paint and exhaustion left players panting during timeouts.
The ’Wolves raced out to a 30-22 point halftime lead, as Espinoza was once again ready for showtime, piling up 14 first-half points. Frustration was evident in Krueger as she flung her body and arms in a wild tornado motion, as her team missed layup after layup.
The heavyweight bout continued into the second-half and Pueblo drew first blood, literally.
Mines center Savannah Afoa had her back to the rim and looked to make a spin move with the basketball. Instead, a hand or an elbow from an invisible player — it was so fast it was unsure who made the contact — popped Afoa in the nose and she quickly went to the floor.
The game continued on as Pueblo was in possession of the ball. Afoa began bleeding profusely from her nose. Remnants of the blood remained on the floor after the center went to the bench.
The Gaffney, Eickelman incident took place four minutes later and the ’Diggers had to finish out the game without two of their superstars. Pueblo easily went on to win their third RMAC title in four years, but the brutality of what happened in the second half lingered on.
During the Mines press conference, Krueger and Afoa entered the room with tears streaming down their faces. Emotions had overcome the fierce competitors. Not only had they lost the game they strived for all season long, they sat worried about their fallen teammates. And to top it all off, three of their senior teammates had played their last game for the school, which is always an emotion sendoff for the team.
“I am very proud of this team,” Krueger said trying to fight off the crying. “It is very hard to continue to play after two of your sisters leave a game the way they did. It was too much for them to overcome to win a ballgame, but at least they went down fighting.”
Metro fought tooth and nail with Fort Lewis in the men’s final. The Skyhawks went for the kill leading by 12 with less than 12 minutes to go. But the ’Runners stayed focused and patient and rallied for the 84-78 win for their eigth tournament title.
The emotions were lower than low for the women’s Mines’ team, but the Roadrunner men were flying higher than high as six seniors celebrated their last RMAC game with cheers, hugs and smiles. Some could not help themselves, as they celebrated with the Metro Pep Band.
The 2009 RMAC Tournament brought out every emotion one could withstand and it provided a physical display that Rocky Balboa would have been proud of.
Altitude Sports did show the finals on their channel, but it was a long way from the coverage Division II basketball deserves. University of Colorado at Boulder and Colorado State University continue to get headlines and first-rate coverage despite sporting losing records.
At the end of the day, despite the bloodshed, the tears and the sweat, is basketball just a game? Yeah right!
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