CHADRON, Neb. – After a trip to Montana, Chadron State women's basketball returns to Nebraska to begin a stretch of four consecutive home games, starting on Wednesday and culminating with the RMAC season opener on December 5.
 
Prior to Thanksgiving, the Eagles will face Southwest Minnesota State at 6 p.m. on Wednesday before taking on York University the following Monday, November 25, also at 6 p.m. Both games will take place in the Chicoine Center and tickets are available. 

Fans can stream both games on the RMAC Network. The Southwest Minnesota State game will be broadcast live on Double Q Country 97.5 FM or doubleqcountry.com, with Dave Collins on the call. 

Looking Back
Chadron State went 0-2 at the Yellowjacket Classic despite two big performances from Ashayla Powers. 

RECAP: MSU Billings | Simon Fraser

The Eagles hung with No. 6/19 Montana State Billings, trailing by just two to the Yellowjackets at the half, but MSUB pulled away for a 77-60 victory. 

On Saturday, CSC ran into one of Division II's top scorers in Simon Fraser's Sophia Wizotski, who scored 27 points to just barely beat her season average of 26.4 per game in an 81-55 victory for SFU.

Power Up
Senior forward and All-RMAC honoree Ashayla Powers was limited to just 13 minutes and seven points because of foul trouble in CSC's season opener but came back with a vengeance this past weekend. 

Powers was dominant in two games at the Yellowjacket Classic, earning a place on the All-Tournament Team and averaging 18.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. 

Against MSU Billings, Powers scored 24 points with six rebounds, a block and two steals. She shot 11-17 from the field and made both of her free throw attempts. The following day against Simon Fraser, Powers recorded her first double-double of the season by recording 13 points and 11 rebounds along another block and a steal.

The 24-point night against a nationally ranked opponent was just one point off Powers' season-high of 25 from the 2023-24 season, when she earned Second Team All-RMAC honors, and just five points off her career high of 29 from her First Team All-RMAC season in 2022-23. 

The double-double against Simon Fraser gives Powers 11 double-doubles in her career.

Through the Net
Chadron State had a good week from the free-throw line, making 28 of 32 attempts as a team for an .875 percentage as a team over the past week. Much of that production came in the game against Simon Fraser, when the Eagles went 22-for-24 at the line against the Red Leafs. 

It's early, but the Eagles currently have the second-best free-throw percentage in the RMAC, having made 39 of 47 attempts for an .830 percentage for the season. The Eagles trail only Black Hills State, which is shooting 85.3 percent from the line. 

The Eagles are also benefitting from poor free throw shooting by their opponents. In three games, CSC opponents are shooting just 68.6 percent from the line, making only 59 of 86 attempts. 

Chadron State also has the conference's third-best field goal percentage, as the Eagles are shooting 43 percent from the field. That figure ranks behind only Black Hills State (.456) and Colorado Mesa (.439). 

Tough Competition
Chadron State has faced some tough opponents to open the year, as CSC's three opponents – Wayne State, MSU Billings and Simon Fraser – have a combined record of 13-3.

That trend is set to continue, as Southwest Minnesota State is currently 3-0, York University (NAIA) is 2-2 and Nebraska-Kearney, CSC's opponent the Saturday after Thanksgiving on November 30, is 4-1. 

The first time that Chadron State is set to play a team currently with a losing record is South Dakota Mines in the RMAC opener on Thursday, December 5. 

The Rotation
Through the first three games of the season, three players – Ashayla Powers, Kylie Krise and Kyra Tanabe – have made starts in all three CSC games. Two others, Camren Morris and Bati Assefa, have started two of three Eagle games. 

Those five are CSC's minutes leaders through the year's first two weeks. Krise leads with 27 minutes per game, followed by Tanabe (25.3), Assefa (25.0), Morris (22.3) and Powers (22.0), although Powers averaged 26.5 minutes per game this past week after just 13 in the season opener. 

Megan Counts (15.3 minutes per game), McKenzi Petersen (12.0), Olivia Waufle (10.0) and Tyra Eriksson (7.7) have appeared in every game this season for the Eagles coming off the bench. 

Guard Allison Richards also seems like she could be a lineup mainstay. Richards got the start in the season opener against Wayne State and played 21 minutes. She missed the game against MSUB, but returned to the lineup and played a more sparing 17 minutes against Simon Fraser. Richards has scored in double figures in both appearances and is CSC's second-leading scorer behind Powers. 

Powers' 14.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game both lead the team. Richards is the only other double-figure scorer so far at 10 points per game, ahead of Morris (9.7 points per game) and Krise (7.3 points per game). 

Behind Powers, Assefa is the team's second-leading rebounder, grabbing 5.7 boards per game. Richards and Petersen have 3.0 rebounds per game each. In the early going, Assefa also leads Chadron State in assists (six) and blocks (three). 

Scouting the Mustangs
Southwest Minnesota State is 3-0 to start the year. The Mustangs have wins over Washburn (82-72), Central Oklahoma (73-62) and Augsburg, a Division III school in Minnesota (101-51). In the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Preseason Poll, the Mustangs were picked fourth out of 15 teams. 

SMSU is led by senior guard Bri Stoltzman, who is averaging 21.3 points per game through three games this season after averaging 18.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game last season. Stoltzman put up 28 points in the season-opening win over Washburn, followed by 17 and 19 in her next two games. 

The Mustangs have three other double-figure scorers in addition to Stoltzman – senior Peyton Blandin (13.3 ppg), junior Audrey Swanson (12.0) and freshman Nicole Maenke (11.0). Maenke exploded for 22 points against Central Oklahoma. Sophomore Natalie Nielsen is SMSU's leading rebounder at 8.3 per game, followed by Swanson (7.7).

Mustangs head coach Tom Webb is in his ninth season at SMSU. He has a 96-114 record with the Mustangs. Prior to SMSU, Webb spent eight seasons as the head coach at Cameron University in Oklahoma, which competes in the Lone Star Conference. 

SMSU is 6-0 all-time against Chadron State, but the programs have not played one another since the 2009-10 season. 

Scouting the Panthers
The York Panthers, who compete in NAIA's Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC), are 2-2 this season. In one previous exhibition match against Division II school Oklahoma Christian, the Panthers fell 85-48.  

The Panthers have a pair of double-digit scorers in junior Destiny Shepherd (12.0), a York native, and senior Ashley Rubio (10.7). Against NAIA opponents and not including the Oklahoma Christian game, the Panthers have played opponents close, scoring 59.3 points per game and allowing 59.5. 

Corinna Minjarez is the current Head Coach at York, working her way up from athlete to graduate assistant to head coach. As a player, she holds the single-season scoring record at York University. 

The two teams played last season, with Chadron State taking home a 71-59 victory over the Panthers. Olivia Waufle scored a career-high 19 points in that contest, while Liberty Line had 13 points.

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.