RAPID CITY - Melanie Vedvei staged a women's basketball clinic in the first half, racking up 22 points and five steals to lead the South Dakota School of Mines to an 80-61 non-conference win over Chadron State on Friday night at Goodell Gymnasium.

"You could see the sparkle in her eye. She was just having a blast," said Mines coach Barb Felderman of her senior all-Dakota Athletic Conference and NAIA All-American point guard from Lake Preston.

"She's seen double-teams, triple-teams, big guards and low guards. She just takes it all in stride and whatever they give her, she takes," Felderman said.

Vedvei and Rapid City Central product Jennie Malone combined for 28 of Mines' 46 first-half points and took advantage of 19 Chadron State turnovers.

"Our pressure had a lot to do with that," Felderman said. "The kids played good help-side defense."

"That kept them out of their offense and what they wanted to do," Felderman said.

Both teams were a little sluggish out of the gate, with 2:10 ticking away before Chadron State's Sunni Busch finally broke the ice with a free throw.

That would be the Eagles' only lead of the contest, however, as 20 seconds later Malone scored off of an assist from Nicole Martin and Mines would not trail again.

Vedvei used her quickness to penetrate the Eagle defense, doing most of her damage on drives to the hoop.

Two three-pointers from Malone, and two baskets each by Leah Sundby and Bethany Holyoak from the paint boosted Mines to a 38-21 cushion with 3:24 left in the half.

Vedvei put an exclamation point on the opening 20 minutes scoring the last eight points to give Mines a 46-27 lead the break.

The Lady Hardrockers held Chadron State to just two points for the opening 9:01 of the second

half to essentially put the game on ice.

Vedvei sat out most of the second half, but finished with 22 points to lead all scorers. Malone added 14 points, and reserve Jerika Ihnen scored nine of her 13 points after the break. Martin grabbed six rebounds for Mines.

"We knew what was coming. It's no big secret what they want to do, and the people who can do things for them," said first-year Chadron State coach Mike Maloney.

"It's a little disappointing for everybody on our team, the defensive effort we had tonight," Maloney said. "We've been working hard in practice and played well defensively our first three games, but for whatever reason tonight, we just couldn't get the job done."

Chadron State suffered a blow when Busch went down with a sprained right ankle early in the second half. Busch, a sophomore standout from Todd County High School in Mission, was helped off the floor after scoring seven points, but was back on her feet enough to hobble to the locker room by the time the game ended.

She's walking, so that's a good sign," Maloney said. "I'm sure she will be stiff and sore, so we're back to the dreaded day-to-day with her."

The Eagles, coming off a 2-25 season, but buoyed by a 72-56 win last Saturday over Newman University of Kansas, were led Friday night by junior transfer Kristi Long and Alyssa Lyman, with 12 points each.

Whitney Segelke and Samantha Arkulari added 11 points apiece off the bench. Corissa Kesterson, the lone senior on the roster, led the Eagles with 8 rebounds.

"We looked like a group that had a little success with a first win early in the year, maybe we thought we were better than we were," Maloney said.

Chadron State, 1-3, travels to Black Hills State University in Spearfish, joining the CSC men's team for a double-header against the Yellow Jackets starting with the women's game at 5:30 p.m. tonight.

The Eagles return home to open the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference slate next week, hosting Western New Mexico on Wednesday and New Mexico Highlands on Friday.

The Lady Hardrockers, 8-2, kick off DAC play on Wednesday, hosting arch-rival Black Hills State at Goodell Gym at 5:30 p.m.

We're both having a good year, so that should be a pretty good game," Felderman said.

"It doesn't matter what court you're on with those teams."