Chadron State 57, Texas A&M Kingsville 56
Junior guard Keeley Pearce had a career-high 18 points on Saturday evening, and the Chadron State College women’s basketball team earned the program’s first 2-0 start in 17 years. The Eagles survived a heart-stopping final two minutes, and nailed five straight free throws to take the lead at 13 seconds on the clock, before Pearce shielded the potential game-winning three-point shot at the final buzzer to down Texas A&M-Kingsville at home in the Chicoine Center.
“I’m proud of the way we played tonight,” said CSC Head Coach Janet Raymer. “We got better, and that’s what matters. Keeley has been dominant and hitting her shots in practice, and it’s great to see her put it together in a game.”
She also added that the team did particularly well at boxing out to grab rebounds.
Chadron State played 12 different players in the game, for the second game in a row.
The Eagles got out to a 15-6 run to start the game, but gave up four field goals in the final four minutes of the first quarter. Coach Raymer noted that the Javelinas ran in some athletic players forcing her team to switch to a zone defense.
The game featured 14 lead changes and seven ties through the last three periods, as the two teams traded quarters with the shooting advantage.
A critical turning point in the game was Jessica Harvey’s deft swipe of the ball from TAMK’s Tatyana McFarland after a defensive rebound by the opponent. The steal came an instant before McFarland was called with a foul, to put the Javelinas at five for the quarter. Harvey strode to the line and knocked down both free throws to end a 5-0 run by the visitors.
Harvey was responsible for the ensuing defensive rebound which she dished to CSC guard Kalli Feddersen, who got to the line and hit two foul shots to tie the game.
McFarland turned the ball over again on her team’s next trip down the floor, and Savannah Weidauer hit the game-winning free throw to set the final score in place.
Victoria Salinas was the leading scorer for the Javelinas with 11 points. McFarland pitched in eight, and led both teams with 14 boards.
CSC’s Feddersen was near a triple-double with 11 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists – five of which came in the first half. She went through the first two quarters scoreless, but went 2-of-6 from three-point range and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe in the second half.
The Eagles are in Billings next weekend to meet Concordia-Portland and host Montana State Billings on Thursday, and Saturday, respectably.
Score by Periods 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total
Tex. A&M-Kingsville……….. 15 15 14 12 – 56
Chadron State College……… 15 11 19 12 – 57
Chadron State 63, Texas A&M International 56
The Chadron State College women’s basketball team got off to a 1-0 start Friday evening in the Chicoine Center, as the Eagle bench rose up to score 34 of the team’s 63 total points in a 63-56 win over visiting Texas A&M-International University.
“It’s a great opener for us,” said CSC Head Coach Janet Raymer. “We focused on ourselves going in, and we did a pretty good job. Our defense, and everything else, got better tonight, and that’s what we’re looking to do. I was proud of the girls tonight. Going in we were more focused on ourselves than the other team, because we didn’t know much about them. We stayed aggressive, and the other team might have gotten a bit tired. We played 12 kids. I expect that to be a strength of ours, and I’m excited about that going forward into the season.”
Eight different Eagles scored in the game, led by senior guard Kalli Feddersen with 16 points and nine rebounds.
A pair of newcomers each came into the game to notch double digits as well. Junior transfer forward Jessica Lovitt and freshman guard Brooke Turek each finished with 13 points in approximately 20 minutes of play. Lovitt’s 13 came with 10 boards to give her a double-double in the Mullen, Nebraka, native’s first game as an Eagle.
The Eagles shot only 30 percent in the first two quarters, but hit for 41.7 percent in the last two, when they gave themselves more opportunities by nearly doubling their opponent up on the boards, 29 oto 16, and beating them nine to three on the offensive glass.
“It was awesome,” said Lovitt. “We had a rough start, but then we got in a groove and went with it. We started running our offense. We got the looks we needed to get. We were looking inside, among other options. We’re very young and very new, but we’ve worked on coming together. Everyone has to be a leader out there, and communication is a big part of that. When we communicate well, good things will happen for us.”
The Dustdevils’ leading scorer was Tantashea Giger, a junior out of Lincoln, with 21 points.
In attendance, but not participating in the game for TAMIU, was junior Passionate Amukamara, whose brother Prince starred at cornerback for Nebraska football and now plays for the Chicago Bears.
Chadron State hosts another Lone Star State opponent tomorrow evening in Texas A&M-Kingsville. Tip-off is at 5:30 p.m., and as will be the case throughout the CSC women’s basketball season, the first 100 guests through the door are entered into a drawing for Chadron State gear giveaways.
Score by quarter:
1 2 3 4 T
Chadron State 9 13 15 26 63
Texas A&M-Int’l 13 13 8 22 56