CHADRON, Neb. -- The Chadron State College women's basketball team has a chance of qualifying for the RMAC Shootout as the season winds down with three games remaining.
The Eagles are 8-11 in conference play, two games out of the No. 8 slot in the playoffs. With just three games remaining, they will compete with the current No. 8 team, Fort Lewis at 10-9, and No. 9 Metro State at 9-10, for the eighth and final tournament bid.
This weekend, the Eagles will visit Colorado Mesa in Grand Junction on Friday night and Westminster in Salt Lake City on Saturday night. After that, the CSC teams will meet Regis in Denver on Friday, Feb. 26 to wrap up the season.
The Mesa women are seventh in the conference standings at 12-7 while Westminster is 7-12. When those teams visited Chadron a month ago, Mesa won 72-40 the next night after the CSC women had defeated Westminster 71-58, even though the Griffins' Aubrie Vale, a 5-7 junior, poured in 28 points, the most any player has scored against the Lady Eagles this winter.
Sixteen of Vale's points came in the fourth period. Her 10.6-point average leads her team in scoring through 23 games. Bryanna Adams, a 5-9 junior, leads Mesa in at 16.8 points a game. Adams is a deadly free throw shooter, making 60 of 64 shots this season. She's also shooting 40.6 percent from 3-point range.
Chadron State's
Maka Daysh is third in the RMAC in scoring at 15.5 points a game, leads the rebounders at 9.4 and is third in field goal shooting at 54.7 percent.
The CSC men's last win was a 69-62 decision over Westminster. A 25-to-7 free throw advantage was netted the victory. The next night, Mesa won 85-72 behind 6-10 Ryan Stephan's 42 points and 14 rebounds. His point total is just three shy of the record for most points ever scored against the CSC men.
The Mesa men are 13-6 in the conference while Westminster is 9-10. Stephan leads the RMAC men in both scoring at 25.5 points a game and rebounding at 11.4. The Griffins' leader is 6-2 junior Zerrion Payton at 13.3 points and 6.3 rebounds.
The women's games Friday and Saturday both tip off at 5:30 p.m., with the men's games to follow each night.
