CHADRON, Neb. -- February 27, 2020 -- The Chadron State College basketball teams will wrap up their seasons Friday night by hosting MSU Denver in the Chicoine Center.  The twin-bill will tip off at 5:30.

Both CSC teams played well last weekend while winning three of four games.  The women defeated by Colorado State-Pueblo and New Mexico Highlands and the men toppled Pueblo, but fell to the hot-shooting Highlands Cowboys. 

Every team wants to win its final game of the season, even if it's not for the national championship. 

The CSC women are 7-23 overall and 5-16 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.  The men are 4-22 and 3-18.

Highlights last weekend included junior Taryn Foxen scoring 22 points against Pueblo and 31 against Highlands while eclipsing the 1,000-point figure in her career and earning the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week honor. On the men's side, senior Brian Rodriguez-Flores poured in a career-high 35 points in the victory over Pueblo and tallied 28 points versus Highlands.

They are the Eagles' leading scorers for the season.

Foxen is averaging 15.7 points while shooting a team-best 42.6 percent from the field, leading in 3-pointers with 51 and free throws made with exactly 100. She's also used her quickness and tenacity to come up with a team-high 50 steals.

Rodriguez-Flores has scored 469 points for a 17.4-point average, has claimed a team-best 6.0 rebounds a game, has shot 46.4 percent from the field, has nailed a team-high 58 treys and is 91 of 115 at the free throw line for 79.1 percent.

A native of the Phoenix area, Rodriguez-Flores is one of three seniors on the men's team who will be recognized prior to tipoff. The others include Colby Jackson of Las Vegas, Nev., and Michael Sparks of Denver, who have given the Eagles a capable, high-energy backcourt duo the past two years.

Jackson is averaging 10.3 points this year, has made 88 of 104 free throws for 84.6 percent and is among the RMAC leaders in assists with 139, more than five a game. He also leads the team with 26 steals.

Sparks is coming off a pair of excellent games last weekend, when he scored 31 points while making nine of 15 treys.  He's averaging 10 points this season while shooting 39 percent on 3-pointers and 82.5 at the line. 

Four seniors on the women's team also will be recognized. They include forward Jessica Lovitt of Mullen, who has played for the Eagles the last three years after initially playing both volleyball and basketball at North Platte Community College; Haley Urbatsch, who transferred from Gillette College in her hometown last season; Melisa Kadic of West Valley, Utah, who came to CSC last fall from Idaho State; and McKenna McClintic of Burwell, who was recruited to CSC as a volleyball player but switched sports in her second year at the school. 

Each of the three has strengths. Lovitt is a solid in all phases of the game and is averaging 6.2 points this season; Urbatsch has given the Eagles a boost in the backcourt recently; and Kadic is an accurate shooter with an 8.7 scoring average.

The MSU Denver women are still vying for the final spot in the RMAC playoffs.  They are 12-15 for the season and 11-10 in the conference, tied with Dixie State for eighth place.  They lost at home last Saturday night 66-65 to CSU-Pueblo, the team the Eagles had defeated 58-41 the previous night.

The Lady Roadrunners have balanced scoring, led by 5-10 senior Bree Wellington with a 10.0 average.  Sophomore Morgan Lewis is next in scoring at 8.4 a game and is the top rebounder with a 6.3 average.

The Roadrunners men are 11-16 for the season and 7-14 in the conference, tied for 12th place. They had lost seven games in a row before toppling Pueblo 64-57 last Saturday night.

MSU lost its top player and scorer, senior Druce Asah, on Feb. 1 to a knee injury while playing Black Hills State.  Their top scorer in the lineup now is 6-3 senior Garrett Carter with a 9.9 average.  Mitch Leonard, a 6-2 senior, is averaging 9.3 points and 6-7 junior Maris Colton is averaging 8.9 points and 5.0 rebounds.

Chadron State and MSU Denver met this season in Denver in the final game before Christmas. MSU won both games by nine points. The women's score was 76-67 and the men's was 82-73.