By: Con Marshall, CSC Sports Information
CHADRON, Neb. -- January 8 , 2020 -- After playing their last five conference games on the road dating back to Dec. 13, the Chadron State College basketball teams will be at home this weekend to host their Utah opponents. The Westminster Griffins from Salt Lake City will visit the Chicoine Center on Friday night and the Dixie State Trailblazers from St. George will be the foe Saturday night.
"These are big games for us versus great teams," CSC Men's Coach Houston Reed noted.
In particular, the Westminster women and the Dixie State men have had lots of success this season.
The Westminster women are 11-2 overall and 6-1 in the RMAC, losing only to Colorado Mines 80-70 in conference action on Friday night, then rebounding to defeat Colorado-Colorado Springs 75-64 on Saturday night.
The Lady Griffins, who also lost at Alaska Anchorage, have a strong attack led by three juniors. Hunter Krebs, 6-foot-1, is averaging 16.4 points and shooting 60 percent from the field, 5-6 Mariah Martin is averaging 15 points and 6-0 Sarah McGinley is averaging 14.4 points and 7.8 rebounds.
The Dixie men won their first 10 games before being clipped 91-75 at Western Oregon on Dec. 20. When they returned to action on Friday, they topped Colorado Springs 75-61, but lost 80-79 in overtime to Colorado Mines.
The homestanding Trailblazers seemed to have a safe lead Saturday night, but Mines scored eight of the last nine points in regulation to knot the score an 68 and won in overtime when Dixie State missed two free throws and the Mines player who snagged the second rebound drove to the other end of the court and hit a jumper with five seconds left.
Dixie's top gun is 6-8 junior Hunter Schofield, who is averaging 18 points and 7.5 rebounds. Three more Blazers are averaging between 11 and 12 points. The Eagles won 64-61 in St. George last year, largely on the strength of a 46-27 rebounding bulge.
This reportedly will be the first time a Dixie State basketball team has played in Nebraska, and perhaps the last time for a while since the Trailblazers are leaving the RMAC after this school year.
The Dixie State women are 9-4 for the season and 4-3 in the RMAC. Friday night they were drilled 67-40 by Colorado Springs, which was 1-10 and 0-5 entering the game, but beat Colorado Mines 77-72 the next night.
Ali Franks, a 5-10 senior, leads the Dixie women with a 14.7-point average and has made half of her 38 3-pointers.
The Westminster men are 8-5 overall and 3-4 in league play. They nipped Colorado Mines 68-66 Friday night, but lost at home to Colorado Springs 63-53 on Saturday night. The Griffins are paced by 6-5 junior Brandon Warr, who is averaging 16.2 points and 9.4 rebounds, the most in the RMAC. Jake Connor, a 6-4 grad student, is next at 12.5 points a game.
The Chadron State men got a huge "pick-me-up" Saturday night when they knocked off Fort Lewis 83-71 in Durango to break a five-game losing skid. Senior Brian Rodriguez leads the Eagles at 16.9 points and 6.0 rebounds a game. He scored 18 points in each CSC's weekend games.
Although he's seen limited playing time in several games because of foul trouble, center Jacob Jefferson is averaging 11.5 points and senior point guard Colby Jackson 10.4 a game while also handing out 75 assists. Jackson was credited with 13 assists against Fort Lewis. That's second high all-time for the Eagles.
The CSC women have lost five conference games in a row since defeating Regis 69-65 at home on Dec. 7, but continue to put forth good effort. Junior Taryn Foxen sets the scoring pace at 13.4 points a game. Ironically, she was scoreless in the win over the Rangers, but has tallied 59 points in the last three games. Senior Melisa Kadic is averaging 10.4 points and Jori Peters is close behind at 9.1.