ThunderWolves Nip Eagles 75-66

Photo Courtesy/Zachary Carlson/CSC Sports Information

The Chadron State College women’s basketball team rallied back from a 21-point second half deficit, trailing by only one with under three minutes to play, but came a step or two short from completing the comeback in a 75-66 win for the visiting CSU-Pueblo ThunderWolves on Friday evening in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opener for both teams.
 
CSC falls to 0-7 (0-1 RMAC), while CSUP improved to 4-3 (1-0 RMAC) with the win.
 
For the third time in as many games, the Eagles opened up a multiple-possession lead in the early minutes of the first period. The ThunderWolves’ offense ran through Fresno State transfer Charisse Fairley, who started the game 4-of-5 from three-point range, helping her team to a 23-18 lead after 10 minutes.
 
The Eagles shot the long ball as well as they have all season in the first half, landing four of nine from downtown, but struggled with only a 33 percent success rate inside the arc. Meanwhile, the ThunderWolves managed a gaudy 55.6 percent from long range, and they took a 46-28 lead into the locker room.
 
In the second half, Pueblo’s shooting returned to earth, and the Eagles were able to hold turnovers to a minimum. CSC shot 48.4 percent from the field and forward Ashayla Powers poured in 20 of her 25 points, on 8-of-9 field goal shooting, to help her team surge back into the game.
 
CSC had runs of 14-4, in the second half of the third quarter, and 14-3, midway through the fourth, to virtually bottleneck the two teams at 66-65, with 2:49 to play. However the Eagles missed their last three field goals of the game, while Pueblo hit three of its last four to salt away the game.
 
Fairley and Powers both led the way for their teams in scoring and rebounding. Fairley led Pueblo with 32 points and eight rebounds. Powers had 25 and eight.
 
Despite only scoring once, JaNaiya Davis helped the ThunderWolves’ attack with nine assists.
 
Chadron State continues searching for its first win on Saturday, when it hosts New Mexico Highlands at a new Saturday evening home tip-off of 4 p.m.