The Chadron State College women's basketball team will make the first of two consecutive trips to the Denver area this weekend for a pair of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference contests.
 
The Eagles will play at Colorado Mines on Friday night and visit Colorado Christian on Saturday night. Both double-headers will start at 5 o'clock and will be aired on KQSK Radio.
 
The Mines women are 4-4 after splitting their RMAC openers last weekend. They defeated Western New Mexico 70-53, but lost to New Mexico Highlands 84-82 when the Cowgirls' Alyssa Lopez, who finished with 24 points for the second night in a row, made two free throws to tie the score with 26 seconds remaining and sank the winning layup with eight seconds left.
 
The Orediggers' Angie Charchalis, a 5-foot-5 senior, is the RMAC's leading scoring at 18.5 points a game this season. Allie Grazulis, a 5-11 junior, is chipping in 13.4 points and 9.5 rebounds a game.
 
The Colorado Christian women are 4-2. Highlands edged them 87-83 on Friday night, when Lopez scored 24 points, just like she did the next night against Mines, but the Cougars clobbered Western New Mexico 92-63 on Saturday night.
 
Colorado Christian opened the season with a 106-68 triumph over Chadron State during a tournament in Denver. CSC coach Tim Connealy said he's eager to have the Eagles play the Cougars again to see if his team has improved in the past three weeks. 
 
Four Lady Cougars are averaging in double figures, led by Taylor Torres, a 5-4 freshman, at 15.5 points a game. Christina Whitelaw, a 5-7 junior and one of the top all-around players in the conference, is averaging 13 points.
 
Junior forward Kattie Ranta is leading the CSC women (1-4) in scoring at 15.2 points a game. Sophomore guard Dallas Shaw is next at 13.4.