Women’s basketball grinds out 4th win of season

The Chadron State College women’s basketball team squeaked out a 79-76 victory in its only game this weekend against the Griffins of Westminster College, Salt Lake City.
After being down by four points early in the first, the Eagles caught fire and never looked back. Hot shooting helped them outscore the Griffins 22-17 in the first quarter and end with an 11-point halftime lead.
“I’m really happy with the way we played our man-to-man defense,” Leticia Rodriguez, junior of Chaparral, New Mexico, said. “There were times where we had some lapses but didn’t give up. We continued to work together and trust that we could get the job done.”
Continuing their hot play in the third quarter the Eagles built a lead as big as 19 points before the Griffins caught fire themselves. With defensive stops and hot shooting, the Griffins managed to be down by 10 at the end of the third.
Both teams fought hard down the stretch, making it a barnburner of a game for all fans to enjoy. The Griffins outscored the Eagles 20-13 in the fourth quarter and tightened the Eagle lead to just one, before Kalli Feddersen, junior of Rawlings, Wyoming, hit two game clinching free throws to seal the three-point victory.
The Griffins shot 46 percent from the field but committed 17 turnovers. The Eagles shot 34 percent from the field despite a season-high 45 percent from long range and only committed 11 turnovers, a season low.
Feddersen led the Eagles on the night with 21 points and seven rebounds, while Rodriguez scored 15 points. Erin Graham, senior of Deland, Florida, and Kylah Collins, redshirt freshman of Waukegan, Illinois, followed closely behind with 14 and 13, respectively.
Five Griffins scored in double figures for the team, led by Aubrie Vale, senior of Burley, Idaho, and Max Shelley, junior of Blackfoot, Idaho, each with 15. Whitni Syrett, senior of Tropic, Utah, scored 14 for the Griffins while Denise Gonzalez, sophomore of South Gate, California, recorded 12 and Sydnee Taylor, junior of Salt Lake City, Utah, accounted for 10.
Friday the Eagles travel to Alamosa, Colorado to take on the Adams State Grizzlies, then play in Durango, Colorado, Saturday against the Fort Lewis College Skyhawks.
“We played both teams about two weeks ago, beat Adams by one and lost to Fort Lewis by six, but I feel like if we keep our composure and trust in each other, then we should be fine,” Rodriguez said. “Any great team can be beaten on any given night and it comes down to who wants it more.”