The Chadron State College basketball teams will make the long trip to New Mexico this weekend. They will play the Highlands University quintets in Las Vegas on Friday night and the Western New Mexico Mustangs in Silver City on Saturday night. The round trip is about 2,000 miles by bus.

Friday’s doubleheader starts at 6 p.m. and Saturday’s games begin at 5:30.

The Highlands Cowgirls are 3-11 overall and 3-7 in the conference. After opening their conference slate with wins over Colorado Christian, Colorado Mines and Western State by a total of eight points, they have lost seven games in a row.

Two of the setbacks have been by just four and three points, but the losses to Metro State and Fort Lewis were by 29 and 20, respectively.

The Cowgirls feature the conference’s leading scorer, 5-foot-8 junior Alyssa Lopez, who is averaging 17.9 points. She averaged 18.3 points last year while sharing the RMAC lead. Lopez also was named the RMAC Academic Player of the Year this past week.

The Highlands men are 5-9 for the season and 3-7 in the conference. The Cowboys are paced by 6-7 junior Mannie Cass at 16.8 points, including an eye-popping 29 of 57 from 3-point range. He’s also 56 of 68 for 82.4 percent from the free throw line.

Next in line for the Highlands is 6-4 Lavelle McDade, who is averaging 13.4 points.

The Western New Mexico women went 0-24 last year, but they beat the University of the Southwest 77-56 in this year’s season-opener. Their only other victory was by a 63-50 score over Adams State on Friday night. Morgan Woltman, a 5-10 senior, scored 18 points to lead the Lady Mustangs over the Grizzlies. She’s also the team’s top scorer for the season at 12.6 a game.

The Mustangs’ men are 4-10 for the season and 3-7 in league play. All three conference wins have been at home. They were over Colorado Mines and Colorado Christian on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 and CSU-Pueblo on Dec. 14.

The Mustangs have lost their four RMAC games in January, all on the road. At 15.6 points a game, Chad Carter, a 6-6 senior, is the only WNMU player averaging in double figures, but three others are averaging between 8.4 and 9.6

Chadron State’s Zac Bargen leads the RMAC men with a 17.6-point scoring average. The Eagles’ Kattie Rantais third among the women at 16.7.