CHADRON, Neb. – Chadron State will face both ends of the RMAC standings this upcoming week on its longest road trip of the season in Salt Lake City and Grand Junction.
The Eagles (1-12, 1-7 RMAC) will face a team near the bottom in Westminster (3-11, 0-8 RMAC) on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in Salt Lake City. The Griffins are one of two winless teams remaining in the conference alongside Regis, who is CSC's only win this season.
Two days later, the Eagles will face the RMAC's top team in Colorado Mesa (18-1, 8-0 RMAC) on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Grand Junction. The Mavericks, winners of 15 straight, are ranked No. 9 in the nation in this week's WBCA Coaches Poll.
Colorado Mesa will be led by two-time All-American, two-time RMAC Player of the Year and former Chadron High School player Olivia Reed Thyne, who is averaging 19.8 points and 10.8 rebounds per game this season.
Both games will be streamed live on the RMAC Network, accessible through daily, monthly or annual subscription options, or listen live on Double Q Country 97.5 and 105.9 FM and doubleqcountry.com with Dave Collins on the call.
Looking Back
Chadron State led after the first quarter in both matches but saw their opponents pull away in the second half as Adams State beat the Eagles 74-64 while New Mexico Highlands knocked off CSC 74-54.
RECAPS: Adams State | New Mexico Highlands
The Eagles led by double-digits at halftime against the 11-5 Grizzlies before Adams State reversed the scoreline by outscoring the Eagles 29-11 in the third quarter. Chadron State also led 20-15 after the first quarter against New Mexico Highlands
However, the Cowgirls outscored CSC 21-9 in the second period to own a 36-29 halftime advantage and outscored the hosts 38-25 in the second half for the victory.
Moe Baskets, No Problem
McKenzi Petersen had her best offensive week of the season in last week's two games.
Already CSC's leading scorer (10.8 points per game) and rebounder (5.1 per game) on the season, "Moe" led the Eagles in scoring two games in a row during last week's action.
Against Adams State, Petersen scored 20 points (her NCAA/CSC career-high) on 9 of 14 shooting. She also had six rebounds in the game, four of which were offensive. Two days later, Petersen was again CSC's leading scorer with 12 points.
Petersen now has seven games in double figure scoring this season, including each of CSC's last three. Petersen has been the team's leading scorer in six of CSC's 13 games.
Playmaker
True freshman Kenna Wagner has been handed the keys to Chadron State's offense throughout the season and rewarded that faith by recording a season-high five assists in back-to-back games against Adams State and New Mexico Highlands.
Wagner now has 39 assists in 13 games, and her 3.0 assists per game average has her up to 12th in the RMAC in that category. Wagner has multiple assists in 12 of CSC's 13 games this season.
A well-rounded player, Wagner also ranks fourth on the Eagles in scoring (6.7 points per game), fifth in rebounding (2.8 per contest) and tied for second in steals (17 total).
Local Kid Made Good
Chadron State fans are very familiar with Mavericks star player Olivia Reed Thyne.
Reed Thyne moved to Chadron as a seventh grader when her father, Houston Reed, took the head coaching job of the Chadron State men's basketball program (and hired current CSC women's head coach Jalen Little as one of his assistants).
Reed was a three-sport standout at Chadron High School, earning all-conference honors volleyball, qualifying for state in track and excelling in basketball as a freshman and sophomore at CHS before moving to Windsor, Colorado when Houston Reed joined the coaching staff at the University of Northern Colorado.
At Colorado Mesa, Reed Thyne plays for a coach in Taylor Wagner who she has known for most of her life. Wagner and Houston Reed played together and were the women's and men's basketball head coaches, respectively, at Otero Junior College in La Junta, Colorado at the same time before both eventually got Division II jobs.
Olivia Reed Thyne is married to Austin Thyne, a graduate of Scottsbluff High School who went to Colorado Mesa along with Olivia and spent three seasons on the CMU men's basketball roster.
In the Polls
With new program leadership and a primarily new team, the Chadron State women's basketball program was picked 14th in the RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll.
Defending regular season champions Colorado Mesa were the preseason pick to win the league, receiving nine first-place votes plus five second-place votes for 191 total points. The other six first-place votes went to defending tournament champions UCCS, who also had four second-place votes and three third-place votes for 181 total points.
Behind the top two, Adams State, Western Colorado and Colorado School of Mines rounded out the top five. The remainder of the RMAC Tournament places are occupied by Black Hills State, CSU Pueblo and New Mexico Highlands. MSU Denver is picked ninth, followed by Colorado Christian, South Dakota Mines, and Fort Lewis in the top 12.
Westminster placed 13th with 47 points in the poll, just one point ahead of the Eagles, who had 46. Regis rounded out the poll and was picked 15th, receiving 21 points.
The RMAC has one nationally ranked team in the WBCA Coaches Poll – Colorado Mesa at No. 9.
Scouting the Opponents
Westminster
The Westminster Griffins are 3-11 overall and 0-8 in the RMAC. They have lost five straight entering Thursday's game against CSC since their last win on December 19 against Seattle Pacific.
Over the past two weeks, the Griffins have lost by 12 to Adams State, 19 to Fort Lewis, 31 to Colorado Mesa and just two to Western Colorado, where the Griffins outscored the Mountaineers 27-15 in the final quarter but saw their comeback attempt fall just short.
Senior guard and Utah native Teuila Nawahine leads the Griffins in scoring at 12.6 points per game, a year after averaging 11.8 to lead the team. Nawahine has seven games with over 12 points and over five rebounds. Juniors Ellie Mitchell (11.0 points per game) and Madison Anderson (10.6) also average in double figures.
The Griffins rank 12th in the RMAC in scoring offense (61.4 points per game) and scoring defense (71.1 points allowed per game). They corral the sixth-most rebounds per game in the RMAC but are dead-last in three-point field goal percentage.
Griffins coach Asami Morita is in her second season leading Westminster. Before that, she was an assistant coach at Division I University of Nevada and coached at both the collegiate and professional level in Japan.
Colorado Mesa
Picked to win the RMAC preseason, the Colorado Mesa Mavericks are making good on that prediction so far. The Mavs are 18-1 overall, ranked No. 9 in the nation, and unbeaten at 8-0 in conference play.
Olivia Reed Thyne is the engine that makes CMU go, averaging 19.8 and 10.8 rebounds per game. After breaking the program scoring record last week, Reed has 1,972 career points and is within striking distance of the 2,000-point barrier and the RMAC All-Time scoring record (2,002).
Reed Thyne is far from alone. Mason Rowland also averages 17.0 points per game while Mykaela Moore scores 9.4 per game. Rowland and Moore are tied for third in the RMAC with 3.5 assists per game.
The Mavericks are coached by Taylor Wagner, who has led the team to eight NCAA tournament and at least a share of seven RMAC titles.
Coach's Corner
Jalen Little is in his first season leading the Chadron State women's basketball program.
For the past five seasons, Little has served as the lead assistant women's basketball coach at RMAC foe CSU Pueblo. During Little's time on staff, the ThunderWolves qualified for four consecutive RMAC tournaments from 2022-25, including a fifth-place finish (18-11, 13-7 RMAC) in the league standings last year.
Little began his coaching career by spending four seasons as an assistant coach with the Chadron State men's basketball program under Houston Reed, who coached Little as a player at Otero Junior College.
As a student-athlete, Little played one season at Alaska Anchorage (Division II, GNAC) before transferring to Otero. He closed his playing career at the Division I level for Abiliene Christian University (Texas).
