CHADRON, Neb. – With new coach Jalen Little leading the way, the Chadron State College women's basketball team will open its season this Saturday and Sunday on the road by playing a double-header against Oklahoma Christian University in Edmond, Oklahoma. The games will tip off at 5:30 p.m. MT (6:30 CT) Saturday night and at noon MT (1 p.m. CT) on Sunday. 

After two games Oklahoma Christian, whose teams are also the Eagles, Chadron State will still have four more games on the road, including two exhibitions against Division I programs, before playing its first home game on Saturday, Dec. 6 against South Dakota Mines.

Little, who is the 12^th women's basketball coach at Chadron State since the program was launched in 1973, began the job on July 1 and feverishly recruited. Just three players from the previous year's team that had a 6-20 record return, plus another player who was on the roster but had redshirted. Although two freshmen signed by the previous coach were available, there were still many blank spots on the roster. 

In just over six weeks, Little signed 10 players — seven transfers and three freshmen — and carries a roster of 16 players into the 2025-26 season.

"I'm pleased with the progress we've made," Little said.  "We've worked on fundamentals every day and seem to be improving.  We appear to have good speed and quickness and have the potential to be strong on defense."

"We want to run and fast break on offense and we've shot well in practice," the coach added.  "We hope to get some transition baskets and we don't seem to be shy about shooting.  I think we'll be pretty competitive."

The three returnees are among the nine players that Little says are likely to get a bulk of the playing time early in the season.  They are senior forward McKenzi Petersen and junior guards Camren Morris and Jordyn Stokes.  

Senior transfers Bianca Bindzus and Amya Winfrey are expected to share playing time with Petersen in the post area. Bindzus, a native of Denmark, and Winfrey were teammates on a 29-4 team at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colorado in 2023-24. Bindzus also played there last season while Winfrey went to fellow RMAC school Fort Lewis but did not compete.

Perimeter players slated to get playing time include junior transfers Dreanna Jackson, a Seattle native joining CSC from Edmonds CC in Washington, and Evelyn Old Coyote, a Montana native who played at Dawson CC.  Both are described as aggressive and/or hard-nosed.

Little said Audrey Quintana, a transfer from Central Arizona College, and Fort Collins, Colorado freshman Kenna Wagner are the primary point guards. He added that they are apt to be on the court together at times since both are capable shooters besides being excellent ballhandlers and passers.  

The coach is quick to point out that unless they redshirt, all the other players on the team are likely to see action this season. He's pleased they have worked hard and shown they are dedicated to helping the team in any way possible. 

Little and his assistant coach, Romola Dominguez (an all-RMAC player at CSU Pueblo) are the latest coaches tasked with turning around the CSC women's basketball program. The Eagles have not won more than eight games in a season since 2008-09 and have not had a winning season since the 2000-01 team went 19-9. Up until 2000-01, the program had at least broke even for each of the 14 previous seasons.

A contributing factor is that winning on the road has been hard for the program in recent years, as the Eagles are 3-55 in opponent's gyms over the past five seasons. This year's roster will need to reverse that mojo with 11 of the first 14 contests (including nine of the first 12 DII match-ups) away from the Chicoine Center in 2025-26.

The Oklahoma Christian Eagles had a 10-16 record last year and are returning just three players from that team. That means their coach, Markeith Brown, also had to search for numerous new players. Five of the 15 players on the roster are international students.

Among the returnees is Taylor Jackson, who was averaging 14.6 points in the first 10 games last season before being sidelined by an injury. Another returnee, Elikya Baseyila, played in just eight games last year, and averaged eight points.

The top newcomers include transfers Kenzie Willis and Sofia Lopez, both of whom were among the leading scorers at the community colleges they attended.