Eagles’ shots go hot and cold

Chadron State women’s basketball team saw its shots fall and four players reached double digits against Black Hills State University, 89-82. But despite the win Saturday, the Eagles faced a cold spell with their shots, taking their first home loss to Westminster University during Monday’s rescheduled game, 71-59.

“We moved the ball better, so we improved our assists a little bit,” Janet Raymer, head women’s basketball coach, said. “We just kept playing through adversity when we were losing and trying to get a comeback with the win. We just stayed focused.”

Starting off strong against the Yellow Jackets, Samiyah Worrell, sophomore of Fountain, Colorado, scored first with a layup being followed by three two pointers from Jori Peters, senior of Mitchell, and another layup from Ashayla Powers, redshirt freshman of Longmont, Colorado.

CSC built a ten-point lead against BHSU, keeping the Yellow Jackets scoreless for half of the first quarter.

As the game progressed, the Yellow Jackets broke down the lead that the Eagles had, but CSC was able to hold on for the win, with two final free throws from Powers.

Worrell had 23 with seven shots inside the arc, two baskets for three-pointers and seven free-throws.

“When given an assignment, she’s (Worrell) motivated to get the job done,” Janet said. “It just gives us another dynamic.”

Powers earned 22 points, with seven shots from the paint and eight from the free-throw line. She also had the most rebounds with six.

Peters scored 19 points, being seven of nine for field goals and five of six for free throws, and Micheala Dammann, freshman of Osakis, Minnesota, was the fourth Eagle to reach double digits against BHSU with her season high of 12 points.

“I felt like we did a great job on Saturday answering all their runs with runs of our own,” Dammann said. “Today (Monday), we battled to the end but overall, we just didn’t have the same energy as Saturday.”

In contrast, the Eagles started off Monday’s game against Westminster a little slow and struggled with their shoots, being 31.7% for field goals and 14.3% for three pointers.

The Griffins slowly built a lead as the game clock wound down, despite the Eagles only being four points behind by the end of the first quarter.

Being 50% for field goals, Powers led Monday with 17 points and five two-point baskets.

Olyvia Pacheco, sophomore of Rawlins, Wyoming, scored the second most points with 12, making four from both the field goal range and free throws.

“It was nice to score in double digits to help build my confidence, but basketball is a team sport and I just want to contribute as much as possible to help my team win,” Dammann said.

Dammann was able to make another double-digit game with 10 points, being three of seven for field goals and making all four of her free throws. She also led the Eagles with six rebounds.

The Eagles are scheduled to play Metropolitan State University of Denver at 5 p.m., Friday, and Raymer is hoping for a win even if it won’t be an easy feat.

“It’s not going to be an easy game, but I believe that every game on our schedule we should have a chance to win,” Raymer said. “The team is working hard and playing together. The sky’s the limit for us right now.”