CHADRON, Neb. – With one official game under its belt, the Chadron State women's basketball team will face a pair of Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) schools in Montana this upcoming weekend, including a nationally-ranked opponent.

The Eagles (0-1) will face No. 6/19 Montana State Billings at Alterowitz Gymnasium in Billings on Friday at 7 p.m. before staying in the Yellow Jackets' gym to face Simon Fraser in a neutral-site game on Saturday at noon. Both of CSC's upcoming opponents enter the weekend with 4-1 records. 

Both games will be live streamed on MSUB's YouTube channel. Eagle fans can also follow along via live stats. 

Looking Back
After two exhibition games against mid-major Division I opposition, Chadron State played its first official game last Saturday against in-state rival Wayne State at the Chicoine Center, with the Wildcats defeating the Eagles 73-64. 

RECAP: Wayne State

The Eagles shot 45 percent from the field, 41 percent from three and 73 percent from the line against the Wildcats but were hurt by 27 turnovers. 

Career Day
Redshirt sophomore guard Camren Morris recorded a career-high 16 points in CSC's season opener. The Idalia, Colorado native's previous career high had been 10 points, which she recorded on two separate occasions last season. 

Morris shot 6-for-10 from the field, including a 3-for-5 night from behind the arc. She also made her only free throw attempt and had two rebounds and two assists. 

Morris also logged a career-high 24 minutes off the bench, six more than she recorded in any game last season. Morris, who appeared in every game last season while making one start, appears poised for another important reserve role in 2024-25. 

New Eagles
Multiple women's basketball players in their first seasons at CSC made an impact in their first games for Chadron State last Saturday. 

Salt Lake Community College transfer Bati Assefa had a strong defensive game. Assefa played 26 minutes, the third-most on the team Saturday, despite coming off the bench. She recorded seven rebounds, all defensive, with three blocks in her Division II debut while also finishing with six points. 

Allison Richards, a transfer from Northeast CC who was fifth in the nation in scoring at the junior college level last season, put up double figures in her first game as an Eagle. Richards finished with 10 points on 3 of 6 shooting, including 2 of 4 makes from three-point range. Richards also grabbed four rebounds and finished with a team-high four assists. 

Another junior college transfer, former Dawson CC forward McKenzi Petersen, finished with five rebounds against Wayne State, second-most for CSC behind Assefa. Petersen's five rebounds included two offensive boards, and the junior also had an assist and a block.

Team Defense
Led by Assefa and Petersen, Chadron State won the rebounding battle, 40-32. The newcomers also picked up the slack for returning all-conference player Ashayla Powers, who was limited to 13 minutes because of foul trouble. 

The Eagles also locked down the opposition's top scoring option. Wayne State's Maya Fitzpatrick, the Wildcats' top returning scorer from last year, finished with eight points on 2-for-15 shooting. 

Going Up
Chadron State got better as the game went on last weekend, as CSC's point totals and shooting percentage both improved in every quarter. 

The Eagles were held to nine points in the opening quarter but improved to scoring 15 points in the second quarter, 16 in the third and 24 in the fourth quarter, outscoring Wayne 24-17 in the final period. 

Chadron State also shot the ball better and better, as after a 2-for-11 first quarter (18 percent), the Eagles shot 35 percent from the field in the second, 55 percent in the third and 75 percent (9-12) in the final period as CSC closed the gap. 

The shooting improvement also happened at the free-throw line. Chadron State finished 11-for-15 (73 percent) from the line as a team, but all four misses happened in the first quarter. The Eagles went 7-for-7 from the stripe in the second half, including 6-for-6 in the fourth quarter. 

Scouting the Yellowjackets
Montana State Billings is a highly regarded program, with the Yellowjackets currently ranked No. 6 in the WBCA Coaches Poll and No. 19 in the D2CSC Media Poll. The rankings come after a 2023-24 season which saw MSUB finish 28-7, win the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) regular season title and advance to the third round of the NCAA Tournament. 

This year, the Yellowjackets are off to a 4-1 start, with wins over Texas A&M International (76-45), Findlay (62-52), Westmont (52-40) and Vanguard (68-48). Their only loss is to No. 3-ranked Grand Valley State, by a 69-52 margin. 

The Yellowjackets have two double-digit scorers through five games in senior guard Aspen Giese (12.8 points per game) and senior forward Dyauni Boyce (12.6). Giese has tallied double figures in each of the last four games, while Boyce did so in MSUB's first four games, including a 21-point game against Findlay. Giese is also the team's leading rebounder. 

The Yellowjackets are led by longtime head coach Kevin Woodin, who is in his 21^st season. Woodin is the reigning GNAC Coach of the Year and has qualified for the playoffs in 14 of the last 18 seasons.

Scouting the Red Leafs
Although Simon Fraser doesn't boast the national ranking of MSUB, the Red Leafs have the same record at 4-1. Simon Fraser, which is located in Burnaby, British Columbia just outside of Vancouver and is the NCAA's only Canadian member school, were picked fifth out of 10 schools in the preseason GNAC poll. 

The Red Leafs opened this season with a pair of wins over Lone Star school St. Edward's and PacWest school Dominican before losing by 15 to No. 4 Tampa. Like MSUB, Simon Fraser matched up with Vanguard and Westmont last weekend, and also defeated both California schools.

Senior guard Sophia Wisotzki has been lighting up the scoreboards, averaging 25.8 points per game, making her Division II's sixth-leading scorer in the early going. Wisotzki scored 31 points in the opener against St. Edward's and has scored 29, 28 and 22 points in her last three contests. 

SFU Head Coach Bruce Langford is in his 22^nd season. Under his leadership, the Red Leafs have made three NCAA Tournament appearances.   

Coach's Corner
Head Coach Travis Brewster is back for his second season leading the Chadron State women's basketball program. 

A veteran head coach, Brewster was previously a head coach at the University of North Dakota for eight seasons, going 128-120 with the Fighting Hawks and winning two Big Sky Coach of the Year awards in 2014 and 2017. In his time at UND, Brewster won two Big Sky co-regular season championships and one Big Sky tournament championship with one NCAA Tournament appearance in 2014 and one WNIT appearance in 2017.  

He was also a head coach for two seasons with Saint Xavier (NAIA), where he put together a 45-16 record. He was the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) Coach of the Year in 2022, a year he also led Saint Xavier to a conference championship and NAIA national tournament berth. 

As a student-athlete, Brewster competed at Iowa Lakes Community College and Charleston Southern University before playing professionally in Switzerland and Ireland.