Eagles begin break with two losses
The women’s basketball team had two games to finish before the athletes could go on Thanksgiving break. However, they headed into break with two more losses behind them, when Colorado Christian and Lubbock Christian both stole the show during the Holiday Inn Select Classic at Metro State.
On Friday, November 16, the Eagles took on Colorado Christian University. Turnovers seemed to be the biggest factor in the loss for Chadron, as the Cougars caused 31 turnovers, and were able to score 42 points off of those turnovers. Christina Whitelaw, junior guard for Colorado Christian, led in steals with five.
“ They [CCU] ran a box, full court press the entire game which we struggled to adjust to, causing more turnovers than usual. We will need to improve our decision making in the back court when we see them again,” Head Coach Tim Connealy said.
CCU came out ready to play as junior guard BJ Moyes hit a three less than two minutes into the game. After that, the Cougars scored six more points until Chadron was able to put points on the board with a layup by sophomore guard of Buffalo, Wyo., Dallas Shaw.
Shaw led the Eagles in scoring with 22 points, but had help from Kate Simonton, sophomore guard of Bakersfield Calif., who only played one half of the game. Both Colorado Christian and Chadron were in the 40 percent range from the field, but CCU outshone the Eagles in the three point range with a 47.6 percent compared to Chadron’s 26.7 percent. Chadron did do a good job of rebounding and made more second chance points than Colorado Christian.
To continue the weekend, Chadron played the Lubbock Christian Chaparrals on Saturday. The Chaparrals are currently ranked No. 1 in the NAIA and they proved themselves by shooting 58 percent from the field and having 35 points coming from the bench, towering over CSC’s 9 bench points. Leading for Lubbock was Haley Burton, sophomore point guard with 14 points. She had help from five other teammates who scored in double figures.
Burton also was three for five in field goals, helping Lubbock gain a 40 percent shooting average, compared to Chadron’s 18 percent average.
Chadron came out hot and scored the first points of the game with a three pointer from Kattie Ranta, junior guard of Rapid City, S.D., within the first five seconds of action. Ranta led in points with 20 and also received her first career double double when she rebounded 14 of 29 for the Eagles. After that, however, Lubbock took off and led for the rest of the game, ending the first half leading by 29 points.
“It was exciting, but I have to give my team credit, I couldn’t have done it without them,” Ranta said when asked what her thoughts were on her first double double.
Jazmin Lopez, freshman guard of Indio, Calif., contributed seven points in 27 minutes of playing time.
The Lady Eagles will take on Colorado Mesa at 6 p.m. on Friday and Western State at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
“The competition will be stiff but our focus has been and will continue to be on ourselves and how we can keep improving,” Connealy said.
Ranta also reiterated coach Connealy’s thoughts on how the competition looks for the weekend.
“Both teams are good teams. But any team can be beaten any day, just depends on who shows up to play and we are all ready,” Ranta said.