CHADRON, Neb. -- January 2, 2021 -- The Chadron State College basketball teams are due to ring in the New Year by hosting a pair of double-headers on Sunday and Monday, Jan. 3 and 4 in the Chicoine Center.

The Colorado Mines Orediggers will be the visitors in the first twin-bill, which will start at 4 o'clock with the women's game.  The men will follow at 6. The Regis Rangers will be the Eagles' guests on Monday night with the women's contest is due to tip off at 5:30 and the men are to take the floor at 7:30.

These opponents were due to help the Eagles open the season on Nov. 22 and 23, but COVID-19 issues caused the games to be rescheduled.  Hopefully, this time they will happen.  No fans will be allowed at any of the four games, CSC Athletic Director Joel Smith said.  Perhaps when the Eagles are back home again on Jan. 15 and 16 against Western Colorado and Fort Lewis, fans can attend.

Both Chadron State teams have played just twice so far this winter  

The Lady Eagles are 0-2 after being thumped 78-28 at home on Dec. 12 by Colorado Mesa and being much more competitive six days later at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs before falling 73-68.  

The CSC men split home games on Dec. 11 and 12. They gave new Head Coach Shane Paben a 66-60 victory over Westminster College of Utah in the opener, then took Mesa to double overtime before losing 77-68 the next night.

During December, both Chadron State teams were supposed to visit Fort Lewis at Durango, Colo., and Western Colorado at Gunnison, but they didn't make the trip.  In addition, the women's game versus Westminster in Chadron on Dec. 11 and the men's visit to Colorado Springs on Dec. 18 were called off because of COVID issues.

Both Colorado Mines teams played six games prior to Christmas with the men going 6-0 and the women 5-1. Both were expected to be salty this season, since both returned all of last year's starters.  

The Mines men finished 22-10 a year ago. The roster includes 6-foot-6 Brendan Sullivan, who was first-team All-RMAC, along with second-team choices 6-0 Mason Baker and 6-7 Michael Glenn. Both Baker and Glenn began their senior seasons with more than 1,000 points.

This year's Mines team opened with an 82-48 lambasting of Metro State and roughed up South Dakota Mines 70-49 in the second game.  Since then, the Orediggers have toppled Regis 73-50 and defeated Colorado Springs 65-54, Western Colorado 67-57 and Fort Lewis 79-73.

Through the six games, Sullivan is the top scorer, averaging 17.8 points, while 6-3 Kobi Betts, 6-5 Ben Boone and Glen are all averaging at least 10.5 points.
The Mines women finished 18-11 last season. So far this year, they have defeated Metro 75-49, South Dakota Mines 68-53, Regis 50-48 and Fort Lewis 75-63, and lost to Western State 57-50.

The Lady Orediggers feature 6-foot junior Delani Pinto, last year's RMAC Player of the Year and an Academic All-American when she averaged a conference-high 19.9 points. Her output included 77 treys and she was 159 of 184 for 86.4 percent from the free throw line.  No other RMAC coed netted more than 113 free shots last season.

Another force is 6-2 center Courtney Stanton, who averaged 11.2 points and sank 74 of 85 free throws for 87.1 percent. Mines' stats on the website do not include the Fort Lewis game, but Stanton was averaging 14.2 points and Pinto 13.5 through the first five contests.

The Regis women are returning their four top scorers from last year's 10-16 team. The leader is 5-11 Whitney Jacob, who averaged 14 points and 9.7 rebounds. The second leading scorer at 8.7 points a game was Emma Sterkel, a 5-6 senior from Gering.

The Lady Rangers lost to Metro State 78-72 in their season opener even though 5-10 freshman Erin Fry tallied 27 points and Jacob scored 23. Next, Regis edged what is expected to be a strong South Dakota Mines team 71-67 behind Jacob's 20 points and 12 rebounds, then was nipped by Colorado Mines 50-48 on Dec. 10 when the Rangers last played.  

The CSC women and Lady Rangers met just once last year with CSC winning 69-65 behind Jori Peters' career-high 24 points while she played all 40 minutes in Chadron.

The Regis men are officially 1-1, although they lost to both the University of Denver (82-66) and Northern Colorado (83-58) in exhibition game.  In official games, they whipped South Dakota Mines 90-52 while making a dozen 3-pointers and lost to Colorado Mines 73-50.

The Rangers' scoring leader in the two official games is 6-1 senior Brian Dawson with 43 points. Will Cranston-Lown, a 6-1 sophomore, is next with 24.  The Regis men shot 50.7 percent from the field against South Dakota Mines, but only 29.1 percent against Colorado Mines.

Regis was to have hosted Fort Lewis and Western Colorado on Dec. 18 and 19, but those games were not played.   

The Chadron State women have been led in scoring in both of their games by senior Taryn Foxen with 16 and 20 points, respectively.  Another veteran, Bailey Brooks, did not play in the season-opener, but tallied 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the game at Colorado Springs.

Two transfer guards, Marcus Jefferson and Teddy Parham, have scored in double figures in both of the CSC men's games.  Both had 11 points in the win over Westminster while Jefferson scored 16 and Parham 10 against Colorado Mesa.

Post players Jacob Jefferson with 18 points against Westminster and Deion Rhea with 17 versus Mesa were the Eagles' top scorers in those games.

If things go according to schedule, both Chadron State teams will visit Westminster in Salt Lake City on Jan. 9 and then be home for three consecutive double-headers. They will be against Western Colorado and Fort Lewis on Jan. 15 and 16 and Black Hills State on Jan. 19.