Paxton Ritchey-CSC Sports Information
SPEARFISH, S.D. – Chadron State women’s basketball overcame a halftime deficit with a big third quarter run to take the lead, but the Black Hills State Yellow Jackets steadied the ship enough to defeat the Eagles 60-52 in Spearfish Saturday afternoon.
The Eagles trailed by as many as 14 in the first half and were down by eight at the break but came out of the locker room on fire and opened the second half with a 16-3 scoring run to take a lead in the third quarter. The home team responded, however, retaking the lead for good with 49 seconds left in the third period and leading for the entirety of the fourth.
Camren Morris continued her breakout season, leading the Eagles once again with 15 points and three made three-pointers. Allison Richards scored 12 points and Kyra Tanabe finished with 11 to give CSC three players in double figures. Ashayla Powers finished with eight points and eight rebounds in 27 minutes played.
Kylie Krise finished with a team-high nine rebounds for the Eagles. The nine boards are the second-highest single-game total in Krise’s career behind only Thursday, when she set a collegiate career high in rebounds during a 23-point, 10-rebound double-double.
Black Hills State won despite shooting just 30.2 percent from the field, 30 percent from three and 57.1 percent from the line. The Yellow Jackets did out-rebound Chadron State 49-41 and had three players with over 10 rebounds.
Chadron State had a better shooting night than the Yellow Jackets, as the Eagles shot 30.9 percent from the field, 46 percent from three and 86 percent from the stripe. CSC was plagued by turnovers, committing 19 compared to 14 by BHSU.
Although the Eagles trailed 31-23 at halftime, they instantly flipped the script as the second half began. The Eagles a trio of made threes from Morris, Richards and Morris again among their first five field goal attempts of the second half to instantly take a 32-31 lead.
BHSU went 1-for-2 from the line for its first second-half point three minutes into the third quarter, and CSC went down to the other end and got a basket from Allison Richards to take the lead again. Another three by Tanabe and a fastbreak layup from Richards completed the 16-3 run and gave Chadron a 39-34 lead halfway through the third quarter.
Black Hills State did have an answer, however, using a 9-0 scoring run of its own to pull ahead 44-42 with 49 seconds to play. The Yellow Jackets continued to expand the lead in the fourth, going up by as many as 13 before two free throws from Morris and a three-point play from Richards trimmed the score to the final margin of 60-52.
The Eagles are 2-6 overall and 1-1 in the RMAC. Black Hills State improved to 6-3 overall and 2-0 in conference with the win. Chadron State will play on the road next week, visiting CSU Pueblo on Thursday and UCCS next Saturday, both in Colorado.