Eagles To End Season By Hosting Denver Teams

Photo Courtesy/Carter Hattery/CSC Sports Information

The Chadron State College basketball teams will be wrapping up their seasons this weekend at home against two Denver-area teams, Metro State on Friday and Colorado Christian on Saturday. Tipoff for both double-headers will be at 5:30 in the Chicoine Center.

The Eagles played Metro in Denver on Jan 20 with the Lady Roadrunners winning 81-61, but the Chadron State men overcoming a 44-36 halftime deficit to win 78-76.
CSC and Colorado Christian have not met this season.

The Metro women are 18-7 for the season and 14-6 in the RMAC to claim a conference playoff berth. They are led by six-foot senior Allie Navarette, who is averaging 13.6 points a game and scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the January game versus the Eagles.

It’s best not to foul Navarette. She is among the conference leaders at the line, making 118 of 145 shots for 81.4%.

The Metro men are 16-10 overall and 10-10 in the conference after losing Monday night to Fort Lewis 80-57. The Roadrunners are seventh in the RMAC standings, but New Mexico Highlands at 10-11 and Westminster at 9-11 are breathing down their necks. Two losses this weekend when the Roadrunners also visit Black Hills State could put them in a bind.

The Metro men have some weapons. They include 6-9 Laolu Oke, who is averaging 14.2 points and an RMAC-best 11.6 rebounds. Oke sank all 12 of his field goal shots against the Eagles in January for a game-high 24 points and also claimed nine rebounds. Three more Roadrunners are averaging between 13.0 and 13.7 points.

Like the Eagles, neither of the Colorado Christian teams will reach the playoffs.

The Cougars’ quintets have similar records. The women are 8-17 for the season and 5-14 in conference action. The women don’t have anyone averaging in double figures, but three of them are averaging at least nine points, led by Jordyn Brown at 9.9.

The Colorado Christian men are 8-18 overall and 5-15 in the RMAC. Their scoring leaders are a pair of guards less than six feet tall. Ross Williams is sixth on the RMAC scoring list at 19.1 points game and D.J. McDonald is averaging 14.4 points. Both are shooting right at 40% from three-point range. Williams has canned 79 treys and McDonald has made 67. Chadron State’s true leader, CJ Jennings, has 50.

The CSC women are 7-17 overall and 6-13 in the conference. The men are 9-16 and 5-12.

The women’s stat leaders for CSC are Shay Powers at 14 points and 6.1 rebounds a game along with Sami Worrell with an 11.5 scoring average. Jori Peters is averaging nine points and has handed out more assists than she has turnovers, something point guards strive to accomplish.

Powers also has big numbers at the free throw line. She has made 114 of 152 foul shots for 75.0%.

Jennings leads the CSC men in scoring at 14.3 per game, followed by Marcus Jefferson at 12.7 to go with his 87 assists and 58 turnovers and team-high 85.5% (69-81) free throw marksmanship. Teddy Parham is averaging 9.8 points while Alliance native Mason Hiemstra is at 9.5 per game after missing 10 games in the 2021 portion of the season because of an ankle injury.