Feb. 16, 2023

Eagles Hoping for Another Big Weekend

By Con Marshall

The Chadron State men's basketball team will try to duplicate last weekend's success this Friday and Saturday when it visits two Denver-area teams while playing on the road for the final time during the regular season.

The Eagles will visit Metro State on Friday night and play at Colorado School of Mines the next night. The women's games starting at 5 o'clock will tip off both double-headers.

Last weekend, the male Eagles raced past New Mexico Highlands 76-54 after the score was 31-31 at halftime, and won a thriller vs. Colorado State-Pueblo 89-85 in overtime. 

After winning eight consecutive games for the first time since the second half of the 2011-12 season and winning 16 games for the only time since 1999-2000, the CSC men have clinched a spot in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference playoffs with their 13-5 conference record. 

Eight teams advance to the playoffs. The Eagles are fifth in the RMAC standings.  Westminster's 9-9 record puts the Griffins sixth.  The standings are led by Black Hills State at 16-1, followed by Fort Lewis at 15-2, Colorado Mesa at 15-3 and Colorado Mines at 14-4.  The Metro men are 10-14 overall and 7-11 in the conference. They beat Westminster 84-59 last Friday night.

The Chadron State men edged Metro 67-64 when they met on New Year's Eve in Chadron.  The Eagles and Mines have not played previously this season.  The Mines men have four players averaging in double-digits, led by Adam Thistlewood at 15.3 points to go with seven rebounds a game.

One of the Chadron State women's big wins this season was a 77-70 triumph when the Metro State teams visited on Dec. 31.  The Lady Eagles were 30 of 62 from the field. Shay Powers scored 26 points and Samiyah Worrell 19.

The Lady Roadrunners are 12-12 overall and 10-8 in the RMAC, good for sixth in the standings.  Their top gun is 5-8 sophomore Kendra Parra, who is the conference's top scorers with an 18.7-point average. 

The Colorado Mines women are 19-4 for the season and at 15-3 share the top rung in the RMAC with Regis. Their conference losses have been to Regis, Colorado-Colorado Springs and Mesa. Two seniors, 5-9 Ashley Steffeck and 6-foot Megan Van de Graff, with averages of nearly 14 and 13 points, respectively, are the scoring pacesetters.   

 After this weekend, the lady Eagles will wrap up their regular-season schedule by hosting South Dakota Mines on Wednesday, Feb.22 and Black Hills State the next night.