With full-fledged practice for Chadron State College men’s basketball beginning in a couple of weeks, the team’s competition schedule for 2021-22 is complete.

The men’s basketball season tips off at home for the second consecutive year, returning to non-conference play. The Eagles welcome the annual conference challenge back to Chadron with Texas A&M University-Kingsville and Texas A&M International University visiting the Chicoine Center on November 12-13.

Shortly after opening at home, the CSC men travel to Kearney for the annual rivalry matchup at UNK on November 16. The Eagles have won two of the last three in the series.

The Eagles’ frenzied pace continues on November 19 with a trip to the University of Sioux Falls, where CSC last won in 2005 under head coach Dan Beebe.

CSC has one more home tune-up against Haskell Indians Nations University on November 21, before boarding a plane for Puerto Rico.

There, the team will face three first-time opponents – the Universities of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras, Bayamon, and Mayaguez. All three are NCAA Division II independent members.

From there, the Eagles begin Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference competition, and play 22 consecutive games against league opponents. Conference action opens at home on December 3 and concludes the same way on February 26.

The RMAC Tournament begins on March 1 at the home sites of the top four tourney seeds.

In total, the Eagles play 14 games at home, and 14 on the road.

Rivalries, Exhibitions Highlight Women’s Basketball Schedule

The Chadron State College women’s basketball team will embark on a new season starting this month, and with that, a full, challenging slate of games is on the schedule for 2021-22.

The Eagles begin with a preseason exhibition on November 3 at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, before the regular season opener on November 12.

The opener, at Texas A&M-Kingsville University, is a resumption of the conference challenge with the Lone Star Conference, which also includes a trip to Texas A&M International University in Laredo. Two years ago, the Eagles women split the games 1-1 at home, defeating International and losing to Kingsville.

On November 18, CSC resumes an in-state rivalry that hasn’t been played since 2014, when it travels to Wayne State University, a regular contender in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

After about five weeks of training, the Eagles finally open up their home court on November 21, hosting Mount Marty University of South Dakota, an opponent the CSC program hasn’t seen since 1978.

Another exhibition game, at the University of Wyoming, awaits the very next day, November 22. The Cowgirls are the defending Mountain West Champions, after starting 10-9 last season and going on a tournament run to capture the title and advance to the NCAA Division I Tournament.

The final date on the non-conference schedule is November 27, when CSC renews another in-state rivalry traveling to the University of Nebraska-Kearney. The Eagles last won there in 2012.

Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference competition begins at home on December 3 and also wraps up in Chadron on February 26.

March 1 marks the RMAC Tournament, with first round games to be hosted by the top four tourney seeds.

Including exhibitions, Chadron State has 12 home games, and 17 away.

CSC Cowboys Have Tough Luck In Finals

Three Chadron State College cowboys qualified for the finals at the Sheridan College Rodeo last weekend, but they didn’t fare as well during their second runs. That means Tayle Brink of Reva, S.D., who transferred to CSC this fall, was the only team member to place in both go-rounds.

Brink finished fifth in breakaway roping and sixth in goat tying. She caught her calves in 3.0 and 3.7 seconds and tied her goats in 8.2 and 8.6 seconds. There were 103 breakaway ropers and 47 goat tiers at Sheridan.

Both events were won by Caydee Johnson of Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne. She caught her calves in 2.8 and 2.5 seconds and tied the goats in 7.4 and 7.6 seconds, and was the runaway winner of the all-around cowgirl title.

After placing in two events, Brink was fifth in the all-around standings.

The Chadron State cowboys who reached the finals included Jake Chasek, a freshman from Mitchell, in team roping. He and his twin brother, Justin, who attends Eastern Wyoming College at Torrington, won the first go-round in 5.7 seconds, but they did not get a time in the finals on Sunday. However, their long go-round victory was worth $414.50 apiece, and since only five of the 10 teams posted times on Sunday, the Chaseks finished sixth in the overall standings.

Two CSC cowboys made the steer wrestling finals at Sheridan. Teigan Marchant of Newcastle, Wyo., was second in 5.7 seconds and Parker Johnston of Maywood, Neb., was sixth in 10.7 seconds in the first go, but neither flipped his steer in the finals.

Johnston won the steer wrestling and Marchant was one of the 10 finalists at the CSC Rodeo the previous weekend.

Central Wyoming College at Riverton will host the Central Rocky Mountain Region rodeo this weekend.