Eagles fall at home to Western Colorado

By Eben Rosentrater – Sports Editor

A low-scoring game for CSC and a career best performance from one Mountaineer women’s basketball player kept the CSC women’s basketball team from claiming another win against Western Colorado, of Gunnison, last Thursday at home.

An unstoppable performance from Mountaineer women’s basketball player Emmery Wagstaff, senior of Evanston, Wyoming, turned a winnable game into another close 54-62 loss for the Eagles.

Thursday’s matchup started off lopsided for the Eagles. The Mountaineers quickly jumped out to a 16-7 lead in the first quarter.

This scoring streak continued into the second quarter as Western scored another 19 points, ending the second half leading the Eagles 35-18.

Chadron State battled back into the contest, cutting the Mountaineer lead to just three points, trailing 54-57. However, the Eagles failed to score for the last five minutes of the game.

Wagstaff, who is the daughter of former CSC wrestler Garth Wagstaff who attended the college in the 1990s, consistently kept the Eagles just out of reach of the lead.

She scored a career-high 35 points, nearly half of her team’s total points. She also recorded nine rebounds and three steals.

Chadron lost the contest 54-62, another disappointing loss for the battle-worn Eagles. They fall to 4-12 in RMAC play, and 4-18 overall. However, they remain the same in RMAC rankings at 14th.

The Eagles were led once again by Ashayla Powers, sophomore of Longmont, Colorado. Powers had another performance over 20 points scoring 22 total, shooting .600 from the field and .667 from the free-throw line. She also racked up seven rebounds and four steals.

Samiyah Worrell, senior of Fountain, Colorado, followed Powers up scoring another 11 points, three rebounds, two assists, and two steals.

The Eagles will take the court on the road against the New Mexico Highlands University Cowgirls, of Las Vegas, New Mexico, at 5 p.m. Friday.