CHADRON – The Chadron State College women’s basketball team will open its Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference schedule at home this weekend when the Eagles host Colorado Mesa Friday and Western State Saturday.
Both games tip off at 6 p.m. at Armstrong Gymnasium.
The CSC women are 0-3 against strong competition. Junior forward Kattie Ranta has been both the scoring and rebounding leader during the early games. She is averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore guard Dallas Shaw is next on the scoring chart at 14 points a game.
The other starters for coach Tim Connealy in all three games have been freshmen Hattie Guzman and Jazmine Lopez at the guards and 6-foot3 junior Greer Babbe at center.
The Eagles got a shot in the arm while playing in a tournament in Denver the second week of November, when sophomore Kate Simonson made her initial appearance of the season after overcoming some leg injuries. Simonson tallied 14 points during her season debut.
Connealy said another guard, junior transfer Lisa Durden, appears to be nearly fully recovered from a concussion that has caused her to miss the first three games.
Both Colorado Mesa teams have their seasons off to a good start.
The Mesa women are 4-0 and the Mavericks’ men are 3-1.
One of the Lady Mavs’ wins was a 69-47 decision over Montana State-Billings, which won 79-64 when it played the Eagles in Chadron on Nov. 11.
The Mesa leaders include Kesley Sigl, a 6-foot senior who was selected as the RMAC’s Preseason Player of the Year by the coaches. She averaged 18.3 points and 6.3 rebounds last season and has averaged 14.8 points and 7.3 rebounds so far this season.
The Lady Mavs also include sisters Sharaya and Katrina Selsor, who are averaging 14.3 and 13.8 points, respectively. Katrina also is averaging 8.3 rebounds and has 12 steals. She is a 6-1 senior while Sharaya is a 5-9 junior.
The Western State teams are off to a rather slow start this winter. The Lady Mountaineers are 0-4 and have been outscored by an average of 67 to 43.8 points while the Western men are 1-3, but they’ve played two Division I opponents.
The Western women have a new coach. Van Girard moved to Gunnison in June after winning 302 games during 24 years as the head coach at California State-Dominguez.
The team’s top scorer so far is 5-10 sophomore Jade McIntosh, who is shooting 45 percent from the field and has made 17 of 18 free throws while averaging 15 points a game. None of her teammates are averaging more than 5.0.
The Lady Mountaineers’ losses have been to Central Washington, Seattle Pacific, Emporia State and Cal Baptist, all by at least 16 points.