CHADRON, Neb. – After earning its road win of the season during a 1-1 week in the Denver area, Chadron State women's basketball will head even farther west on the back half of their four-game road trip.   

The Eagles (5-17, 4-12 RMAC) will face Western Colorado (17-6, 12-4) in Gunnison on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. before heading to Utah to take on Westminster (5-18, 4-12) in Salt Lake City on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Previously, the Eagles defeated Westminster 63-43 in the Chicoine Center on January 23. CSC and Western Colorado have not faced one another yet this season, but the programs split two matchups last year, with each team winning at home.

Both games will be streamed by CSC Live on the RMAC Network. A radio broadcast will be available live on Double Q Country 97.5 and 105.9 FM or doubleqcountry.com, with Dave Collins on the call. Fans can also follow the game via live stats.

Looking Back
Chadron State snapped a brief two-game losing streak with a 60-55 win over MSU Denver before losing to Colorado School of Mines 87-57 in a pair of road games last week.

RECAPS: MSU Denver | Colorado School of Mines

In defeating MSU Denver, Chadron State won at the Auraria Events Center for the second straight year and earned a victory over the Roadrunners for the third straight season. Ashayla Powers scored a game-high 18 points in the victory while Liberty Line scored a team-high 12 in the loss to Mines.

Power Up
Powers scored in double figures in both games this past week and shot nearly 70 percent from the field across the two contests. 

The Longmont, Colorado native had 18 points, seven rebounds and two steals against MSU Denver, making 6 of 9 field-goal attempts. She followed it up with an efficient 10 points against Colorado School of Mines, making 3 of 4 field-goal attempts and shooting 4 of 8 from the line. 

Powers has thrived in a sixth-man role in recent games. After starting the first 16 games of the season, Powers has come off the bench in five of the last six, but has played 20 minutes or more and scored in double figures in four of the five games she has not started. 

The senior continues to lead the team in points per game (11.0) and rebounds per game (5.6). Junior Kylie Krise is hot on her heels in both categories, ranking second in points (10.5) and rebounds (5.4). 

Every Basket Counts
Megan Counts has emerged late in the season as a two-way option for CSC, starting 12 games total and each of the last six for the Eagles. 

Counts scored 16 points with five rebounds, two blocks and a steal against MSU Denver, extending a streak of four consecutive games scored in double figures. While that streak was snapped on Saturday against Colorado School of Mines, Counts still added two steals on the defensive end and made both of her two-point field goal attempts in the game. 

The junior forward is now second on the team in both steals (18, behind Ashayla Powers's 23) and blocks (eight, behind Kylie Krise's 12). She also ranks fifth on the team in points per game (6.3) and fourth in rebounds per game (4.1).  

Record Chase
Earlier this season, Ashayla Powers cracked the top five of all-time leading scorers in Chadron State women's basketball history, and the chase is on to see if Powers can move further up the list. 

Currently, Powers has 1,410 career points, 241 of which have come this season after the senior scored 89 in 2020-21, 347 in 2021-22, 463 while winning First Team All-RMAC honors in 2022-23 and 270 last season. 

Powers needs 84 points over the rest of the season to climb into the program's top three. Alumni Gwen Reed (1974-78) is fourth with 1,492 while Mary Perrien (1985-89) is just ahead in third with 1,493. 

The top two scorers in CSC women's basketball history are likely out of reach – Lorna Dahlgren (1991-95) ranks second with 1,527 career points while Tricia Lukawski (1989-93) is the program's all-time scoring leader with 1,869 points. 

Powers already cemented her name among the Chadron State women's basketball greats this season when she became the program's all-time career rebounding leader with 615 rebounds. 

Powers achieved the milestone during the January 11 game against Regis, with her seventh and final rebound of the night lifting the senior past Eagle alumni Shauna Smith (1990-94) and Lorna Dahlgren (1991-95), who were tied at 614. Coincidentally, Powers broke the record in her 100^th career college game. 

Putting Up Points
Chadron State has had multiple historic scoring performances as a team this season.

On February 6, Chadron State scored 98 points in an overtime loss to Colorado Christian. The 98 points are the highest single-game total for CSC since the Eagles scored 102 in a double-overtime game against New Mexico Highlands in the 2013-14 season.

On November 25 of this season, Chadron State also had a 92-point game in regulation in a win over York University. In games that remained in regulation, the York game was CSC's first overall 90-point game since beating Regis 91-54 in 2009-10 and the most points in regulation for CSC since the Eagles beat Johnson & Wales 98-70 all the way back in 2008-09.

Chadron State has been able to score this season, as the Eagles' scoring offense of 64.7 points per game ranks eighth in the RMAC and is just one point per game outside the league's top five. The Eagles have four players (Kylie Krise, Allison Richards, Ashayla Powers and Kyra Tanabe) averaging between nine and 11 points per game.

Free Throw Frenzy
Chadron State is one of the best free throw shooting teams in all of Division II. The Eagles rank 16^th in the country and third in the RMAC with a 77.6 percent team percentage from the charity stripe. 

The Eagles excel at the free-throw line in both volume and percentage, as they also lead the conference with 14.82 made free throws per game.

Chadron State is winning the free-throw battle with its opponents, as well, as teams playing CSC have combined to shoot 71.4 percent on average from the free-throw line. That percentage is the fifth lowest for opponents among the RMAC's 15 teams.

In the Polls
The only RMAC school in the national polls is Colorado Mesa, which is ranked No. 24 in the D2CSC Media Poll and is receiving votes in the WBCA Coaches Poll. The Eagles have faced multiple teams that are either ranked over receiving votes in both polls, including Montana State Billings (No. 16 in WBCA, No. 23 in D2CSC), and Southwest Minnesota State (No. 17/17). 

The D2CSC Regional Polls, an unofficial precursor to the NCAA's regional rankings that determine NCAA Tournament qualification, currently have three RMAC schools among the top 10 in the South Central region – Colorado Mesa at No. 4, Western Colorado at No. 5 and Black Hills State tied for No. 6.

In a vote of the league's head coaches, Chadron State women's basketball earned a 13^th-place projection in the RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll, one spot higher than the Eagles finished in an injury-riddled year last season.

Five different schools received first-place votes in the poll, fitting for a conference that had a four-way tie for the regular season title last season. Colorado Mesa, the only RMAC school to reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season, led the poll, followed by UCCS, CSU Pueblo, Adams State, Colorado School of Mines and Regis.

MSU Denver and Colorado Christian snared the final RMAC Tournament positions in the preseason poll, followed by Black Hills State, Western Colorado, South Dakota Mines and Fort Lewis. After the Eagles in 13^th, the poll is rounded out by New Mexico Highlands and Westminster. 

Scouting the Mountaineers
Western Colorado has been one of the surprise teams in the RMAC this season. Picked 10^th in the preseason, the Mountaineers are in second place in the league at 12-4 in conference play (17-6 overall) and by all current projections are on pace for a berth in the NCAA Tournament. 

The Mountaineers have won four in a row after defeating Adams State (84-76) and Fort Lewis (86-70) on the road last weekend. They will be seeking to officially clinch an RMAC Tournament berth with a win over the Eagles. 

The Mountaineers are led in scoring by junior Ivey Schmidt (12.5 points per game) and senior Rachel Cockman (12.4). Grad student guard Jayde Tschritter is third on the team with 8.2 points per game and is coming off a season-high 21 points against Adams State.

Western Colorado has been winning with defense, however, as the Mountaineers allow the fewest points per game in the RMAC at 56.6 per contest while scoring 64.3. The Mountaineers also lead the league in opposing field goal percentage (.352) and three-point percentage (.268).

Head Coach Adam Jacobson is in his third season with the Mountaineers, moving to Division II after winning a conference championship at the junior college level with North Dakota State College of Science in 2021-22. 

Scouting the Griffins
Westminster is 5-18 overall and currently tied with Chadron State with a 4-12 RMAC record. The Eagles will be looking for a series sweep over the Griffins after beating them 63-43 at the Chicoine Center on January 23. 

The Griffins are 2-5 since that loss to CSC and went 0-2 last week, falling to New Mexico Highlands 81-56 and Adams State 98-54. They have been a tougher task at home, however, most notably defeating Colorado School of Mines in Salt Lake City on February 8.

Teuila Nawahine leads the team with 12.2 points per game, followed by Abby Conlee at 9.7. Maunayia Harrigfeld is the RMAC's fourth-leading rebounder, averaging 10.5 boards per game, and ranks second in blocked shots with 1.7 per contest. 

Saturday's game provides an interesting matchup as the Griffins have the RMAC's lowest-ranked scoring offense, averaging 55.7 points per game, while the Eagles have the league's lowest-ranked scoring defense, allowing 74.5 points per game. CSC won out in the first matchup, with the Eagle defense holding Westminster to 12 points under their season average. 

The Griffins are coached by second-year head coach Asami Morita, who joined the Griffins after two years as an assistant coach at the University of Nevada, Reno (DI). She has also coached at Arizona Western College and abroad in her native Japan.

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.