CHADRON, Neb. – After a week of rest, Chadron State women's basketball opens a four-week closing stretch with two road games against Colorado Christian and CSU Pueblo.
The Eagles (1-16, 1-11 RMAC) begin the week against the Colorado Christian Cougars (5-15, 2-10 RMAC) on Thursday at 6 p.m. before traveling to CSU Pueblo (10-10, 6-6 RMAC) on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Both games will be streamed live on the RMAC Network, accessible through daily, monthly or annual subscription options, or follow along for free via live stats.
For this week only, there will not be a Double Q Country radio livestream on Thursday or Saturday.
Looking Back
Chadron State made big gains in certain statistical categories despite losing a pair of games to rivals Black Hills State (67-54) and South Dakota Mines (76-59).
RECAPS: Black Hills State | South Dakota Mines
The Eagles had standout scorers in both games, with Audrey Quintana pouring in 16 points against the Yellow Jackets and Ella Moser scoring a career-high 20 against the Hardrockers.
The Eagles trailed by just one point at halftime against BHSU before a big third quarter allowed the Yellow Jackets to pull away. Against South Dakota Mines, the Eagles battled back to within three points despite falling behind 17-5 at the start of the game.
Protecting the Rock
Chadron State demonstrated a substantial improvement in ball handling and security last Thursday.
The Eagles had a season-low eight turnovers their last time out against South Dakota Mines, a full 10 turnovers fewer than their previous season low of 18.
The performance marked just the second time under 20 turnovers for the Eagles since the first weekend of the season on November 16. Both of those two instances have come in CSC's last three games.
The Eagles forced 10 South Dakota Mines turnovers last Thursday, making it only the second time this season that CSC has won the turnover battle (they committed 20 and forced 24 against Fort Hays State on December 19)
Sixth Woman
Despite coming off the bench in all 17 games, true freshman Ella Moser is a big part of the Chadron State rotation, ranking third on the team in minutes per game (23.0) and points per game (9.0).
Moser has shown the ability to catch fire in a hurry, with five games in double figure scoring and six games hitting three or more three-pointers. Two of Moser's top three career scoring performances have come in CSC's last three games (20 points against South Dakota Mines, 15 against Colorado Mesa) – the other one was against an opponent she will see again this week (17 against CSU Pueblo on December 11)
Among qualified three-point shooters, Moser ranks third in the RMAC in three-point percentage (.359) and fifth in the league in three-point makes per game (2.2).
Access Denied
Amya Winfrey is one of five players in the RMAC averaging a block per game or more this season.
The senior from Aurora, Colorado has 17 blocks in 17 games played, ranking fifth in the league. Winfrey is recording a block per game despite averaging just 15.5 minutes per contest.
Winfrey's biggest game of the career was a five-block performance against Colorado School of Mines on January 8. That single-game total is tied for the second-highest by an RMAC player this season. Winfrey has recorded a block in four of CSC's last five games and has four games with multiple blocks.
Old Stomping Grounds
Saturday's game will be the first in Pueblo as a visitor for Chadron State head coach Jalen Little, who served on the ThunderWolves staff for five seasons, and assistant coach Romola Dominguez, who played for CSU Pueblo.
Little is 0-1 so far against his former boss in CSU Pueblo's Tommie Johnson, falling 66-54 to CSU Pueblo back on December 11 at the Chicoine Center.
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
Colorado Christian
The Cougars are 5-15 overall with a 2-10 RMAC record. Colorado Christian has conference wins over Western Colorado (67-57 on December 4) and Westminster (81-71 on January 29).
Jordon Heckert is the Cougars' leading scorer at 12.4 points per game (21st in RMAC), but three others (Ja'Shelle Johnson, Elise Grosdidier and Hayley Luther) average between eight and nine.
The Cougars tend to thrive in lower-scoring games as they have the 13th-ranked scoring offense in the RMAC (averaging 59.5 points per game) but the sixth-ranked defense (allowing 64.7 points per game).
Head coach Carissa Ratliff has a permanent tag in 2025-26 after serving as the interim coach in 2024-25. She was previously an assistant with the CCU program from 2018-22 and also spent two years as a CCU track and field assistant. As a player, she is a former four-time Division III All-American.
CSU Pueblo
Picked seventh in preseason, CSU Pueblo is on the RMAC Tournament bubble, tied for eighth place at 6-6 in the RMAC entering Thursday and 10-10 overall. Pueblo had lost three in a row before prevailing 83-79 in double overtime over Westminster last Saturday.
Seneya Martinez is the team's top scorer at 12.2 points per game (23rd in RMAC) while Genesis Sweetwine chips in 9.5 points per content and ranks second in the RMAC with 3.9 assists per game.
CSU Pueblo also hangs its hat on defense – the ThunderWolves rank 12th in scoring offense (63.3 ppg) but allow the third-fewest points per game in the league (62.8).
Head Coach Tommie Johnson has been at CSU Pueblo for seven seasons as the women's head basketball coach and was also a men's assistant from 2008-2016.
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).
