CHADRON, Neb. — January 13, 2017 — After seeing what had been a 19-point lead midway in the third period reduced to almost nothing down the stretch, the Chadron State College women's basketball team hung on for a 79-76 victory over the Westminster Griffins in a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference game Friday night.
Chadron State still led 66-56 at the end of the third frame, but Westminster scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter and the chase was on. The Griffins cut the difference to 71-68 with four minutes to play, but Eagles' freshman
Kylah Collins made back-to-back follow shots to give the hosts some breathing room.
Westminster rallied again in the final minute. Whitney Syrett sank a jumper and after the Eagles missed, Max Shelley nailed a long 3-pointer with 20 seconds left to make the score 75-73. Next, the Eagles failed to get the ball inbounds, giving the Utah team possession again.
The Griffins went into the paint for what they hoped would be the tying shot, but it missed. Collins grabbed the rebound, was fouled and made both free shots with six seconds still showing. Westminster raced to the other end of the court where Denise Gonzalez nailed another trey to make the score 77-76.
The Eagles had to inbounds the ball one more time. It went to
Kalli Feddersen, who was fouled and made both free throws.
Feddersen was the game's leading scorer with 21 points, Letty Rodriguez added 15,
Erin Graham 14 and Collins 13. Westminster put all five of its starters in double digits, led by Aubrie Vale and Shelley with 15 apiece. Syrett contributed 15, Gonzalez 12 and Sydnee Taylor 10.
Vale and CSC's
Kendra Baucom led the rebounders with 11 apiece.
The Griffins shot 46.3 percent (31-67) from the field and the Eagles 34.7 (25-72), but Chadron State canned 10 3-pointers, one more than Westminster, and was 19-26 from the free throw line and the visitors five of nine.
The Eagles are now 4-10 for the season (4-7 RMAC) with none of the wins by more than five points. Westminster falls to 5-7 (4-6 RMAC).
