Eagles rank 15, currently 0-5

Despite the Eagle’s lead after the first quarter, the Lady Eagles lost 84-63 against Westminster College Saturday at Behnken Field House, dropping the Chadron State College women’s basketball team record to 0-5, ranking 15th in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. 

Chadron started out on top for the first quarter of the game against Westminster, 22-18, but lost their lead going into the second quarter.  

“We are still working through some things,” Head Women’s Basketball Coach Janet Raymer said, “Our defense isn’t where it needs to be. We’re excited to have fewer turnovers but there’s a lot of parts of our game that we’re still working on.” 

Taryn Foxen, senior of Aurora, Colorado, scored 19 points for the Eagles, and had eight assists. Hazel Fui, junior of Logan, Australia, was close behind with 15 points, making six out of 10 field goals, and had three rebounds. Jori Peters, junior of Mitchell, had 12 points. 

The Eagles were unable to keep up with the Griffin’s lead scorers. 

Griffin’s player Mariah Martin, senior of Sandy, Utah, scored 22 points, 69% on field goals. Additionally, Martin contributed seven assists and six rebounds. Lyndsi Rich, junior of Worland, Wyoming, also hit 20 points and had 11 boards. 

Leading the game with 12 rebounds, Westminster player Sarah McGinley, senior of Fort Collins, Colorado, had nine points. 

For the Eagles, Bailey Brooks, junior of Douglas, Wyoming, led with six rebounds. 

The Eagles had a season-low of six turnovers but was outshot by Westminster 55.4% to 37.3%. The Griffins also lead in rebounding 46 to the Eagles’ 24.  

“We just haven’t gotten the stops on defense that we need to be successful,” Raymer said, “So, a lot of our practices are defensive focused, which is pretty typical for us, but we had a really rough start our very first game. Right now, we’re down to the point where we’re working on the one-on-ones and the two-on-twos, and just working on our skill set.”  

Raymer said their biggest challenge is practicing with seven to nine players, which is difficult to run offense and a full defense, due to injuries and illnesses. 

Due to COVID-19 concerns, the women’s basketball games have been postponed that were scheduled for Friday against Western Colorado University, Saturday against Fort Lewis College and Tuesday against Black Hills State University.