CHADRON — After jumping out to a 14-2 lead in the first six minutes, the Chadron State College women’s basketball team led all the way en route to a 67-55 victory over Colorado Christian in a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference game Friday night.
Chadron State led 28-19 at halftime and was ahead by at least 10 points throughout the second half against a team that had already beaten them twice by a combined 65 points…106-68 on Nov. 16 and 91-64 on Dec. 8, both in Denver.
Four Eagles scored in double figures this time, led by junior forward Kattie Ranta‘s 18 points. Guards Hattie Guzman and Dallas Shaw combined to make nine 3-pointers while scoring 15 and 12 points, respectively. Center Sadie Waugh added 11 points and Kate Simonton handed out six assists.
Both Ranta and Shaw grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Eagles to a 51-30 advantage off the glass.
Shaw sank three treys and Guzman one as Chadron State built its early lead. Coach Tim Connealy said the fast start was a big boost for the Eagles because it allowed them to slow the pace and keep the Cougars from getting their high-scoring offense in gear.
“We finally slowed them down,” Connealy said. “We could take our time before shooting and then we shot pretty well (40 percent).”
Sophomore Kayla Fakelman and freshman Taylor Torres led Colorado Christian in scoring with 12 points apiece. But while Guzman and Shaw were making nine of 23 3-point shots, the Cougars were just four of 22 from behind the arc.
Colorado Christian is now 13-9 for the season and 10-8 in the RMAC. The Eagles are 4-18 and 4-14.
The Eagles will host Colorado Mines Saturday night in their final home game of the season. Before the game, they will honor center Sadie Waugh…the only senior on either CSC basketball team this year.
Con Marshall, Information Services