BY: KALEB CENTER
CSC Sports Information
CHADRON, Neb. – December 31, 2022 – The Chadron State College women's basketball team fell behind to MSU Denver in the first quarter, but trailed for a total of 39 seconds in the remaining 30 minutes of play, as it got its second Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference win on Saturday afternoon in the Chicoine Center.
The Eagles improve to 2-9 overall and 2-3 in the RMAC. MSU Denver fell to 4-8 (2-4 RMAC).
The visiting Roadrunners led by nine at the 2:17 mark in the first quarter. However, the Eagles went on a 28-9 run to take a double-digit lead at 36-26 with 2:41 until halftime. CSC went into the locker room up 40-31 on a Samiyah Worrell layup at the second period buzzer.
Coming out of the half, CSC freshman Allison Olsen gave the Eagles their largest lead of the game with a layup just 14 seconds into the third period.
The Roadrunners' only other lead was at 3:03 in the third. The game's leading scorer and rebounder, Ashayla Powers, made a layup 27 seconds later to put the Eagles ahead for good.
The Eagles improved dramatically in a couple of areas in which they struggled before the break. They were averaging nearly 17 turnovers per game over the first 10 games, and committed only 13 on Saturday. Also, the team which shot 25.6 percent from three-point range earlier in the season hit 6-for-23 from beyond the arc on Saturday, for an even 50 percent.
CSC veterans Powers and Worrell starred for CSC. The former scored 26 points and had eight rebounds, while the latter went for 19 points and another eight boards. Both players scooped up two steals.
Sophomore Kadyn Comer led the Eagles with six assists and three steals.
For the Roadrunners, Mikylah Espinosa led with 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting and added a team-high six rebounds, to tie with teammate Brianna Sealy. Jaiden Galloway tied Comer for a game-high six assists.
Both CSC basketball teams will travel to the Colorado Front Range almost immediately, to make up games rescheduled from the local blizzard two weeks prior, which rendered all Eagles teams unable to travel. CSC will face Regis University in Denver on Monday, before taking on the University of Colorado Colorado Springs on Tuesday.