(Contributed By Con Marshall)
Chadron State College sophomore forward Shay Powers made 11 of 12 field goals shots and five of six free throws, good for 27 points and also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds while leading the Eagles to a 66-61 victory over the Fort Lewis Skyhawks in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action the Chicoine Center on Friday night.
The Eagles got lots of help from redshirt freshman point guard Kyra Tanabe, who scored 18 points and handed out nine assists, most of them to Powers in the paint for a variety layups.
Powers scored 23 of her 27 points in the second and fourth quarters. She managed just two points in the first quarter, but that’s when Tanabe sank a pair of 3-pointers and teammates Kadyn Comer and Emily Archter also hit a trey as the hosts jumped out to a 19-8 lead.
Powers tallied 10 points in the second period as the Eagles increased their lead to 35-19 over the Skyhawks, who shot just 26% percent in the first half while making only seven of 27 field goal attempts. CSC was 11 of 25 in the opening half for 44%.
However, Chadron State’s 16-point intermission margin almost wasn’t enough. The visitors slapped a full-court press on the Eagles, forcing an array of turnovers that helped the Skyhawks outscore CSC 18-9 in the third quarter and slice the lead to just to just seven points—44-37—when the frame ended.
Things got even tighter in the fourth. Twice the Eagles were ahead by just two points, but they never lost it completely, thanks largely to Powers’ 13 fourth-quarter points. The last time the margin was only two was after Fort Lewis freshman Lanae Billy hit three foul shots in a row with 36 seconds remaining to make it 62-60.
Both teams made one and missed one from the line in the next 20 seconds before Tanabe iced the verdict by hitting both charity shots with eight seconds left.
Free throws were plentiful down the stretch. Fort Lewis went 14-of-18 at the line and the Eagles were seven-of-10 there in the fourth period.
Billy was the game’s leading scorer with 29 points. She was 11-of-16 on free throws, but made only two of 18 three-point attempts. Kelsey Sorenson, a 6-foot-junior, added 17 points for the Skyhawks, 13 of them in the fourth quarter.
Led by Powers’ near-perfect shooting, the Eagles shot 45% from the field, compared to Fort Lewis’s 27.4%, and out-rebounded the Colorado team 48-31. However, Chadron State turned the ball over 29 times, 17 of them in the second half. Fort Lewis had 15 turnovers.
Chadron State is now 3-13 for the season and 3-7 in the RMAC. The Skyhawks are 6-9 and 3-6.
Fort Lewis—Lanae Billy 29, Kelsey Sorenson 17, Avery Evans 10, Alyssa Adams 3, Kaitlyn Bell 3. Totals: 17-62 (4-34) 23-34 61 points, 31 rebounds, 15 turnovers.
Chadron State—Shay Powers 27, Kyra Tanabe 18, Samyiah Worrell 8, Emily Archter 8, Kadyn Comer 3, Claudia Dolinger 2. Totals: 22-49 (5-18) 17-21 66 points, 48 rebounds, 29 turnovers.
Fort Lewis 8 11 18 24 —61
Chadron State 19 16 9 22 —66.
3-pointers: FLC—Billy 2, Evans 2. CSC—Tanabe 3, Achter 1, Comer 1.