PUEBLO, Colo. – Led by 23 points from All-American Alisha Little, CSU Pueblo led for the final 33 minutes of game time and defeated Chadron State women's basketball 72-61 at Massari Arena in Thursday night RMAC hoops. 

Kylie Krise finished with 11 points and seven rebounds to lead Chadron State in both categories. Kyra Tanabe finished with nine points as she and Krise each hit three three-pointers apiece for the Eagles. 

The Eagles shot 29.9 percent from the field and 29.4 percent from three. They continued to shoot well at the free-throw line, making 11 of 12 attempts for a percentage of 91.7. 

CSU Pueblo, which had two other scorers in double figures with Landri Hudson's 13 and Tomia Johnson's 11, shot 36.8 percent from the floor, 26.9 percent from three and 74 percent from the line. 

Chadron State competed on the boards, outrebounding CSU Pueblo 52-36 and grabbing 21 offensive rebounds as a team. Behind Krise's seven, the Eagles got six rebounds apiece from Camren Morris and Ashayla Powers, who played just 14 minutes and scored four points before fouling out. 

The Eagles also enjoyed a return to the court from Liberty Line, who made 23 starts for Chadron State last season but had been out all year due to injury prior to Thursday's game. Line played 11 minutes and finished with five points on 2-for-6 shooting and five rebounds.

Chadron struck first on a three by Camren Morris, who scored seven of CSC's first nine points as the visitors built an early 9-8 lead in the first four minutes of game time. The two teams continued to battle throughout the period as the scoring margin was never more than three points in either direction during the opening quarter. 

In the second period, Pueblo began to take control by feeding Little and forcing turnovers. The Eagles committed 22 turnovers in the game, 14 of which came in the first half. CSU Pueblo outscored Chadron State 19-10 in the second period on its way to a 39-27 lead at halftime.

The Eagles came out with urgency in the second half, beginning on an 8-2 run featuring back-to-back three-pointers by Krise. The ThunderWolves responded immediately, however, reeling off a 12-1 run over five minutes of game time before CSC snapped the streak with a backdoor cut feed from McKenzi Petersen to Liberty Line for a layup.

CSU Pueblo closed the third period with another 10-3 run, including three made three-pointers in four attempts, to lead 63-43 after three quarters. The Eagles did outscore CSU Pueblo 18-9 over the final period, but it wasn't enough to overcome the deficit.

The Eagles are 2-7 overall and 1-2 in RMAC play. They will take the court next against UCCS (4-4, 2-1 RMAC) on Saturday at 1 p.m. UCCS fell to Black Hills State 72-44 on Thursday.

Chadron State— Kylie Krise 11, Kyra Tanabe 9, Camren Morris 8, Jordyn Stokes 6, Tyra Eriksson 6, Liberty Line 5, Ashayla Powers 4, Malorie Byrne 4, McKenzi Petersen 4, Megan Counts 2, Bati Assefa 2. Totals: 20-67 FG, 10-34 3PT, 11-12 FT. 61 points, 52 rebounds, 11 assists, 22 turnovers.

CSU Pueblo— Alisha Little 23, Landri Hudson 13, Tomia Johnson 11, Shamahra Henderson 9, Tosjanae Bonds 7, Brynae Stewart 4, Genesis Sweetwine 3, Yara Garcia 2. Totals: 21-57 FG, 7-26 3PT, 23-31 FT. 72 points, 36 rebounds, 15 assists, 14 turnovers.

Wright's 24 Leads Eagles To Win Over Pueblo

PUEBLO, Colo. – Chadron State men's basketball rode a dominant first half and withstood a furious second-half rally to earn a 66-62 road win over the 7-1 CSU Pueblo ThunderWolves in Pueblo Thursday night. 

The Eagles (5-5, 2-1 RMAC) built up a 16-point halftime lead and stayed ahead the entire second half, although the ThunderWolves cut the lead to a basket on two separate occasions and missed a potential game-tying jumper with 10 seconds left. 

Senior guard Zy Wright scored an NCAA career-high 24 points and eight rebounds, shooting 6 of 12 from the field and a perfect 10 of 10 from the line, including the final two free throws to ice the game with seven seconds to play. 

Julio Phipps scored 17 points while Jalen Thomas had 10 points plus four steals for the Eagles, who committed just six turnovers over the game's 40 minutes. The Eagles shot 36 percent from the field and 90 percent from the line (18-20). 

Wright scored 11 of the team's first 17 points, including going 6-for-6 at the free throw line and hitting a deep three on a broken play as the shot clock wound down. 

Moments later, Julio Phipps recorded back-to-back layups off of steals, one of his own and another steal by Zach Smith, leading Pueblo to call timeout with CSC up 21-16. 

That was only the start of a 16-2 run to make it 33-18, with four more points apiece coming from Wright and Thomas during that scoring run.

During the Eagles' first half, they forced 10 CSU Pueblo turnovers while committing just one, had seven steals while Pueblo had zero and shot 42 percent from the floor compared to the hosts 27.6 percent while leading the ThunderWolves 38-22 at halftime.

CSU Pueblo began the second half on a 7-0 run before Treyson Neff put the Eagles on the board with a jumper. Pueblo hit a three, but the Eagles responded immediately with a three of their own from Wright and a transition pull-up jumper from Jalen Thomas to go back up by 13 at 45-32. 

The ThunderWolves continued to chip away at the lead, however, as Chadron State went without a field goal for over five minutes of game time. CSUP guard Brevin Walter went on a personal 5-0 run with two free throws and a transition three to cut Chadron State's lead to two points at 62-60, but the Eagles found Julio Phipps for a dunk at the other end. 

Rebounds loomed large down the stretch. When CSC missed a jumper with 44 seconds left, an offensive board by Phipps extended the play and allowed the Eagles to run more clock. Pueblo had a chance to tie with under 10 seconds left, but Walter's jump shot rattled off the rim and Zy Wright out-leaped post players to pull in the rebound and calmly hit two free throws to give the Eagles a four-point lead and see out the game. 

After defeating CSU Pueblo, who entered ranked No. 5 in the D2CSC regional rankings, the Eagles will move on to facing UCCS (5-4, 1-2 RMAC), who are ranked No. 10 in the same rankings. The Mountain Lions lost 95-89 in overtime to Black Hills State Thursday.

Chadron State— Zy Wright 24, Julio Phipps 17, Jalen Thomas 10, Treyson Neff 6, Dalton Peterson 5, Darrius Miles 3, John Jenkins 1. Totals: 22-60 FG, 4-15 3PT, 18-20 FT. 66 points, 35 rebounds, 10 assists, 6 turnovers.

CSU Pueblo— Brevin Walter 18, Jaden Kennis 13, De'Shaun Cooper 12, Armon Muldrew 8, Denim Johnson 4, Jake Lafferty 4, Sam Howery 3. Totals: 21-55 FG, 7-24 3PT, 13-18 FT. 62 points, 41 rebounds, 15 assists, 14 turnovers.