With the mainstays at the end of last season returning and joined by an array of promising newcomers that Coach Shane Paben landed, hopes are high that the Chadron State College men’s basketball team will be solid this season—the best in a long time.

The Eagles will open their season this weekend by hosting Texas A&M International based at Laredo on Friday night and Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday night in the Chicoine Center. Both games will tip off at 7 o’clock.

The contests are part of the “conference challenge” pitting Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams against those from the Lone Star Conference. Nearly all the men’s and women’s teams from both conferences are involved. The CSC women will be playing at Kingsville on Friday afternoon and at Laredo on Saturday afternoon.

The challenges began in 2017-18 and continued the next two seasons, but were interrupted by the coronavirus last year. The CSC men have won one of the previous six games against the same two teams they will meet this weekend, defeating International in Chadron in 2018.

It’s anticipated that the CSC men will have a major “challenge” against Kingsville. Division I Texas A&M edged the Javalinas by only 76-72 at College Station last Monday night.

Regardless of how the Eagles fare in their opening games, Paben is confident they will be greatly improved this season. He says the team has more talent, height and depth than it had last year when it finished with a 5-8 record during the COVID shortened season

Paben has emphasized he did not accept the job at Chadron State in the summer of 2020 to have a mediocre program. The Eagles’ highlight last year was qualifying for the RMAC playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade, but the coach said there’s much more to be accomplished.

The returnees from a year ago include guard Teddy Parham, who led the team in scoring at 14.8 points a game while shooting 40.7 percent (37-91) from 3-point range. The other backcourt veterans are point guard Marcus Jefferson, who led the team in assists with 52 and averaged 10.2 points, along with KJ Harris, who chipped in 2.9 points a game.

Another veteran is senior swingman Brady Delimont of Ainsworth, who holds Nebraska’s high school record for most career 3-pointers, and has continued to display long range capabilities during his three years with the Eagles, knocking down 93 treys while shooting 38 percent from afar.

Also back from last year is 6-4 Bryant Jefferson, who filled in at the post most of last season after the team’s leading scorer, Jacob Jefferson (no relation), had his career ended by a nasty knee injury in game seven. Bryant Jefferson isn’t expected to light up the scoreboard, but he’s solid at both ends of the court and is expected to be a big contributor again.

Now for the newcomers. Paben said at the end of last year he “needed some more horses.” He worked hard and enters the season confident that he found some.

One those expected to give the team a major boost is not exactly new. CJ Jennings was among Paben’s leading recruits a year ago when he transferred from Saint Martin’s University in Washington state after averaging 15.7 points. Paben believes his average would have been similar at CSC, but he had to wait a year to take the court. Jennings practiced with the Eagles a year ago and has been cleared to play. The coach calls him “very talented.”

Chadron fans are familiar with another backcourt transfer. He’s Mason Hiemstra, the Panhandle’s leading scorer at 22.4 points a game and also the assist leader with 109 as a senior at Alliance High in 2018-19.
Hiemstra spent the last two years at Hastings College and led the Broncos in scoring last winter at 15.7 points a game. It was Hiemstra’s idea to switch to the Eagles, and Paben calls him “a good addition.” He can score, handle the ball and has the quickness to play solid defense.

The 2021-22 roster also has added two 6-foot-7 transfers who are expected to play key roles immediately. They are Porter Anderson, who averaged 9.8 points and shot 65.8 percent from the field last winter for Otero Junior College’s 15-5 team, and Taj Toney, who started at Bluefield State, a Division II team in West Virginia last season. Bluefield played just eight game a year ago, but Toney scored in double figures in six of them.

Four true freshmen also are on the Eagles’ roster. Paben says they’re excellent prospects but he isn’t ready to disclose which ones may redshirt and which ones will earn playing time in 2021-22.

They are Beau Bragg, who’s 6-7 and averaged 16.1 points and 10.4 rebounds at Crandall High in Texas last year; Tejaun Hale, a 6-4 graduate of Oakland Tech in California, where he was the conference’s Most Valuable Player and averaged 18 points and eight rebounds; Val Leone, who’s 6-3 and scored 1,276 points during his career at Fowler High in Colorado; and Caden Sclafani, who’s also 6-3 and averaged 10 points for The Colony High team in Texas that won 24 games last season.

The roster includes two more intriguing players who won’t suit up this weekend because of health issues but could make a big impact before the season gets too far along, Paben believes. They are Joniya Gadson and Olgierd Dmochewicz, both just a shade under seven-feet tall.

Gadson was a starter on back-to-back Class 7A state championship teams in Florida, saw some action during his two years at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, but suffered a concussion in an auto accident that sidelined him in 2019-20. His condition has improved and he still hasn’t been cleared to play. There’s no timetable on when he may become available, but obviously the sooner the better.

Dmochewicz, a native of Poland and dubbed “the Big O” by his teammates, is only 20 and is a freshman. He has a back ailment and could be forced to redshirt, but he appears to have a bright future if he can overcome the problem. Seven-footers don’t come along often in Division II.

When asked how he has been able to land so many promising players, Paben said he “just keeps beating the bushes,” working almost non-stop trying to round up players who will make the Eagles competitive, maybe a national tournament contender. It’s been 20 years since Chadron State men’s basketball has won more games than it lost.

After this weekend’s twin-bill with the Texas teams, the Eagles will play at Nebraska-Kearney on Nov. 16 and the University of Sioux Falls on Nov. 19 before hosting Haskell Indian Nations University from Lawrence, Kan., on Nov. 21.

During Thanksgiving, the Chadron State team will travel to Puerto Rico to play three games against teams from that island nation. The trip is another indication of how Paben is working to put some spunk in the basketball program.

Upon their return, the Eagles will open their RMAC schedule by hosting Fort Lewis and Western Colorado on Dec. 3 and 4. They’ll also be at home Dec. 17 and 18 to play Colorado-Colorado Springs and New Mexico Highlands.

The RMAC coaches’ preseason poll placed the Eagles 12th among the 15 teams. That’s certainly not where Paben intends for them to finish.

Transfers Expected To Help Lady Eagles Improve

After having a 0-13 record during last year’s pandemic-plagued season, the only way the Chadron State College women’s basketball team can go is up. And, Coach Janet Raymer is confident that will happen.

Now in her sixth season as the Lady Eagles’ coach, Raymer hit the recruiting trail hard during the off-season, landing five transfers and 10 freshmen. They have joined the seven returnees from a year ago, giving the Eagles a 22-player roster.

That’s about twice the number that usually suits up and sees game-action, but Raymer believes the transfers, in particular, will give her team a big boost. Nearly all the freshmen, she said, will redshirt while being groomed to take the court in a year or so.

Just two of the Eagles’ returnees are seniors. They include Jori Peters, the hustling Mitchell product who has been a sparkplug and the Eagles’ primary ball-handler in nearly every game the team has played since she stepped on campus in the fall of 2018. The other is Bailey Brooks, a Douglas, Wyo., native who arrived a year earlier than Peters, but missed the 2018-19 season because of injuries.

Both Peters and Brooks were highly successful high school athletes and want to wrap up their college careers on a positive note. Peters averaged 9.5 points and Brooks 6.3 last season.

Other returnees include junior Brittni McCully of Mullen, who, like Peters, started all 13 games last season, seldom scores big, but is a great teammate, and sophomores Tatum Peterson of Glenwood Springs, Colo., who 6-1 is the team’s “big,” and Meagan Ross of Sidney who scored 38 points in 10 games last season.

Raymer thinks Peterson, who was sidelined all her freshman year in 2019-20 because of a knee injury, is ready to make a big contribution this season now that she’s healthy

The Eagles also return redshirt freshmen Shay Powers and Olivia Waufle, both Coloradans who as true freshmen last season played in all 13 games and still have four years of eligibility since college athletes had that participation waived.

Both are athletic and showed much promise last season, particularly in the later games. For instance, they combined to grab 17 rebounds against South Dakota Mines and joined forces to score 24 points in the season finale against Colorado Christian.

The fact is all the returning players had some good games last season, but consistency was a problem. Hopefully, the good games will come more frequently this time around.

The transfers joining the Eagles include Riley Aione and Samiyah Worrell, who were the leading scorers at Northwest College at Powell, Wyo., last season. Worrell led the Trappers at 14 points a game and was named to the Region 9 all-star team. Aione averaged 9.4 points and 5.9 rebounds and blocked 37 shots during the team’s 10-12 season. At 6-1, she gives the Eagles some badly needed height.

Emily Achter, a 5-7 Australian, averaged 4.6 points and shot 38.9 percent from the field the past two years at Casper College, which won its first 22 games in 2020-2021 before losing the regional championship and national tournament games by narrow margins.

Another transfer is 5-5 Olyvia Pacheco, who averaged 8.6 points and 6.2 rebounds the past two seasons at Montana’s Miles County Community College. The Pioneers finished last year with a 24-2 record and won the Region 13 championship, advancing to the national tournament, where they were 1-1.

After practicing for a month, Raymer says she’s pleased with what she’s seen from the transfers. It makes sense to believe that if the Eagles are to make significant improvement this season, much of the impetus will have to come from the transfers.

The coach added that the freshman group also has promise, but said most of them “aren’t quite ready” for the pace of the college games.

The Eagles played an exhibition game last week against Colorado State in Fort Collins, losing by a 78-43 score. Peters was the Eagles’ top scorer with 16 points followed by Brooks and Peterson with eight apiece.

The CSC women will officially open their season this weekend as part of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference-Lone Star Conference “crossover” on the road to take on Texas A&M-Kingsville on Friday and Texas A&M International in Laredo on Saturday. Both games will be played in the afternoon.

Following the trip to Texas, the Eagles will visit Wayne State on Thursday, Nov. 18, then host Mount Marty College from Yankton, S.D., on Sunday, Nov. 21 at 2:30 in the Chicoine Center.

The November schedule will close with an exhibition game at the University of Wyoming on the 22nd and a contest at Nebraska-Kearney on the 27th. The Eagles will open their RMAC slate by hosting Fort Lewis and Western Colorado on Dec. 3 and 4.

Eagles To Conclude Volleyball Season In South Dakota This Weekend

The Chadron State College volleyball team (5-18, 3-13 RMAC) is looking to end their season on a high note when they travel to South Dakota this weekend to take on long-time Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rivals South Dakota Mines (11-13, 5-11 RMAC) and Black Hills State (7-17, 4-12 RMAC).

The Eagles previously played these two teams back in late September. Against the Hardrockers, Chadron State was unable to get anything going on offense. They lost sets one, three, and four at scores of 25-10, 25-14, and 25-15 respectively. In a 25-19 set two victory, the Eagles unleashed 11 kills and only four errors. The team will be looking to get revenge after coming off a monster win against Westminster College (5-22, 3-14 RMAC) last weekend.

In their previous match against the Yellow Jackets, the Eagles lost the first two sets 25-22. Then they proceeded to take set three 25-20 and set four 28-26. In a nail biter of a set five, the score was tied at 15-15. CSC scored the next two points off an Aiyana Fujiyama kill and a Yellow Jacket attack error, sealing the win for the Eagles.

The South Dakota Mines Hardrockers are coming off a 3-0 road loss to CSU-Pueblo (18-6, 12-4 RMAC) and a 3-0 road win over UCCS (8-15, 5-11 RMAC). Against the Mountain Lions, they finished the night with 41 kills and 15 errors on 108 total attempts for a team hit percentage of .241.

The Hardrockers have a new offensive leader on their team from when they faced the Eagles. That player is middle hitter Jacey Koethe, who is the leader in points (267.5), points per set (3.18), kills (198), and kills per set (2.36). Koethe also has a team high of 21 solo blocks and 55 blocks for a total of 76 blocks, which ranks eighth best in the RMAC.

South Dakota Mines is coached by Head Coach Torvi Prochazka, who is assisted by Tony Sunga, McKenzi Weber, and Annika Stephens.

The Black Hills State Yellow Jackets coming off back-to-back 3-0 road losses to UCCS and CSU-Pueblo. Against both teams, they were held to hit percentages of .134 and less.

Madison Hoopman and Haedyn Rhoades, both children of CSC Athletic Hall of Famers, remain statistical leaders for the Yellow Jackets. Hoopman is responsible for team highs in points (312.5), points per set (3.36), kills (289), and kills per set (3.11). Her 3.36 points per set ranks eighth best in the league. Rhoades has started every set at libero for the Yellow Jackets. She has produced 396 digs (ranked second in the RMAC) at a rate of 4.26 digs per set (ranked fourth in the RMAC).

Black Hills State is coached by Head Coach Kristin Carmichael and is assisted by Bree Davis.