The Chadron State men and women have tonight off and host Black Hills State tomorrow. Tip-off for the women will be 6:00, followed by the men at 8:00.

Black Hills State is CSC’s oldest collegiate rival. They met for the first time in 1921-22 when the CSC program had played just 2 games…beating Chadron High 24-17 and losing to Alliance High 17-15.

The Eagles took the first two meetings with the Yellowjackets, winning the first game 31-15 and beating them again later in the season 19-18. Black Hills got revenge in their next match 22-16 in 1924-25.

The teams met twice a season for many years, but the series became more sporadic after CSC joined the Rocky Mountain Conference, but with BHSU now an RMAC member as well the twice a year schedule has resumed.

The Eagles hold a 117-66 edge in the all-time series, but have just a 6-5 advantage since 2000-01 and Black Hills has won the last 2 meetings…85-70 last year in Spearfish and 69-67 in Chadron 2 years ago.

This season, the Eagles are 1-11 and the Yellow Jackets are 3-9. Both beat Regis in Denver on back-to-back nights last month…CSC 71-62, BHSU 69-67…but BHSU has a second RMAC victory…72-68 over Colorado Christian…and a non-conference win over Dickinson State 95-80.

The Yellow Jackets’ top scorer is 6-foot-5 junior Tanner Adler, who is averaging 16.8 ppg, followed by 3 sophomores…6-1 Joey Mitchell at 11.9, 6-6 Austin Maag at 11.1, and Brady Bisgaard at 10.9. Bissgaard hit 6 of 7 three-pointers last year against Chadron State.

The CSC-BHSU rivalry in women’s basketball didn’t start until the Eagles third season in 1974-75, with CSC winning their first five matchups. CSC leads the series 38-11, but the rivalry has been even more sporadic than the men’s this century, with only 5 games…3 won by BHSU, including 68-55.

This year, the Eagles are 2-10 while Black Hills is 3-9 with all 5 victories coming at home. Both teams beat Adams State last weekend, the Lady Jackets 61-38 on Friday and the Eagles 85-75 on Saturday behind Kattie Ranta’s 40-point outburst.

Both als defeated Western State in RMAC play….CSC 78-70 and Black Hills 64-50. The Jackets also beat Montana State-Billings 65-63 back in November, a day befor Billings topped the Eagles 79-64.

Black Hills had just one double figure scorer: 5-10 sophomore Chelsey Biegler at 15.4 points a game. She made 5 of 8 three-pointers while scoring 31 points in an 80-71 loss to Fort Lewis last Saturday night.