CHADRON, Neb. -- February 22, 2017 -- The Chadron State College basketball teams will be wrapping up their seasons by hosting Black Hills State on Friday night and South Dakota Mines on Saturday night.  Both double-headers will tipoff  at 5:30 in the Chicoine Center.

With not a whole lot of numbers on hand when new coaches took over, both Chadron State teams have had challenging seasons. The women have won six games and the men two.  A victory or two in the home finales would be exhilarating for everyone involved, including the fans.

CSC women's coach Janet Raymer said she's proud of how hard her players have worked this season and hopes they give another great effort this weekend "win or lose."

Houston Reed, the Eagles' men's coach, said his players also have "tried the best they can" and he would "love to see them get rewarded in these final games."

The CSC men have come close to winning several more games this season, falling twice in overtime and two more times by a single point.

This women's games this weekend will be important for the visiting teams. Entering the final two games of the season, both the Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines teams are 9-11 in the conference and tied with Colorado Christian for the eighth and final spot in the RMAC Shootout.

Christian is home this weekend against Metro State and Colorado-Colorado Springs, both of which have wrapped up berths in the shootout.  The South Dakota teams also will play Regis in Denver this weekend.

At 8-12 in conference play, the South Dakota Mines men also are contending for the playoffs, but to make it happen will probably need to sweep both Regis and CSC and hope that Adams State loses at Fort Lewis on Tuesday night and at Westminster on Saturday night. The Grizzlies are 9-11 in the RMAC.

The Chadron State teams played their long-time South Dakota rivals on the road in the final games before Christmas.  The Lady Eagles won 69-64 over Mines, but lost 79-48 at Black Hills. 

The Mines men stopped the Eagles 76-71 and Black Hills shot 57 percent from the field during its 82-55 triumph over CSC the next night. The BH men are 5-15 in conference action.

Both of the South Dakota women's teams have one player setting the pace in scoring with 10-point averages and three more who are averaging at least eight points.

The Black Hills men's team is led by 6-foot-6 Fraser Malcolm, a native of Scotland, who is averaging 14 points, and 6-1 Zach McLemore, who is averaging 11.7 points and has sunk 60 of 158 3-pointers. 

The Mines' men have a sure-fire all-conference selection in 6-7 senior Konor Kulas, who is averaging 17.9 points and 9.1 rebounds. He's led the Hardrockers in scoring 15 times and had been the top rebounder in 18 of the 26 games.

Both CSC teams have three seniors who will be honored prior to Saturday night's games. The women are Erin Graham, Maddie Metzger and Havannah Newens.  The men are Myles Busby, Warren Gordon and Cody Martinz.