Sports

Photo by Laura Beahm/Hastings Tribune Chadron’s Jeslyn Jindra (bottom) wrestles Hastings College’s Amy Fuller in their 155-pound match Sunday at Lynn Farrell Arena in Hastings. Women’s wrestling, from page 1

CSC also faced No. 2 Umpqua Community College Saturday, but fell short, 42-7. The RiverHawks tallied up points with six forfeit wins.

Montenegro persevered in her match by pinning Aracely Rendon-Gomez earning the only points for CSC.

On Sunday, the women wrestlers remained in Hastings for the Hastings College Open and had seven of eight wrestlers place by the end of the tournament.

Montenegro finished the weekend first in the 170-pound weight class after pinning two ranked wrestlers, No. 7 Sierra Taladge of University of Jamestown and Saturday’s competitor Thomas of Avila.

“She’s (Montenegro) been getting consistently better,” Jeffery said. “This has been her strongest performance all year. She doesn’t lose confidence in herself and it’s at the right time.”

She also took two decision wins before taking her only loss of the day against Summer Mauk of Albion, being pinned in a little over a minute.

With a 2-1-day, Smith took third of five wrestlers in the 101 weight bracket after a technical fall win against no. 11 Malarie Dominguez of Waland Baptist, 10-0, followed by a decision win over No. 7 Violeta Evangelista of Umpqua, 12-4.

In the same weight bracket, Taylor Lindstrom, freshman of Rapid City, South Dakota, finished fourth after she pinned her first opponent and fell to her other two.

“There were definitely times during my matches I could have wrestled better and put myself in better potions,” Lindstrom said. “I wrestled well though, and I’m proud of myself and my teammates for placing.”

Dye finished fifth of 11 in the 143-weight class by pinning two of her opponents and beating her teammate Hollen with a technical fall, 10-0.

Behind Dye, Hollen finished in eighth, going 1-3 for the day, and Jeslyn Jindra, junior of Box Elder, South Dakota, was another Eagle to place in Hastings, finishing seventh at 155 pounds.

The Eagles cuurently plan to send a group to compete at the York College Open Saturday.

“It’s hardly a job when you have athletes that want to work every day and get better,” Jeffery said. “We are excited to see where we are at and how much we progressed from last week to this week.”

Athletes Weekof the

Kamila Montenegro

Hometown: Las Vegas Class: Sophomore Sport: Wrestling

Montenegro won six of her seven matches throughout the weekend in Hastings. She finished first in the 170-pound bracket during Sunday’s Hastings College Open, pinning two nationally ranked wrestlers and only taking one loss.

Marcus Jefferson

Hometown: Lewisville, Texas Class: Junior Sport: Basketball

Jefferson led the Eagles with 16 points, and set his season high with four steals during Saturday night’s game against Westminster College. He made all three of his attempted free throws and was three of five from the arc.

2021-22 SEASON MEN’S BASKETBALL STANDINGS sponsored by

Lunch & Dinner Specials As of Jan. 12, 2022 1. Regis 2. Black Hills State 3. Colorado Mesa 4. MSU-Denver 5. Fort Lewis 6. UCCS 7. South Dakota Mines 8. Westminster 9. CSU-Pueblo 10. Adams State 11. Colorado Mines 12. Western 13. CHADRON STATE

2021-22 SEASON WOMEN’S BASKETBALL STANDINGS

As of Jan. 12, 2022

1. Colorado Mines 2. CSU-Pueblo 3. Westminster 4. Colorado Mesa 5. Black Hills State 6. Regis 7. Western 8. CHADRON STATE 9. MSU-Denver 10. Colorado Christian

8Jan. 13, 2022 | The Eagle | csceagle.com Sports

Eagles turnover a win

u By Mackenzie Dahlberg

Sports Editor

Chadron State’s men’s basketball team starts the new year off with a loss to Westminster College, despite attempts to comeback Saturday in Chicoine, 73-67.

“The reason why we had to comeback was because we had such a poor start in the first half,” Shane Paben, head men’s basketball coach, said. “We missed some key shots in the second half but if we only had five turnovers in the first half like we did the second half, we definitely would’ve won the game.”

By the end of the first half the Griffins outscored the Eagles, 43-22, but CSC returned to the court and closed the gap to six points four times against Westminster.

With 4:11 left of the game, CJ Jennings, senior of Colorado Springs, made a fastbreak layup to bring the score to 63-57.

Marcus Jefferson, junior of Lewisville, Texas, also brought the ball to the basket in another fast break, bringing the score gap back down to six with two and a half minutes left after Griffin Donaval Avila, freshman of Petal, Mississippi, made a jumper.

“We have talent to be a conference championship team,” Paben said. “We just have to figure out how to win games or, at least, force people to beat us instead of shooting ourselves in the foot.”

The Griffins quickly answered back after Jefferson’s basket with a three pointer from Matt Kitzman, senior of Draper, Utah, in an attempt to extend their lead.

Following a steal from Teddy Parham, Jr., junior of Los Angeles, Jefferson was fouled at the arc with 36 seconds left and proceeded to make all three of his free throws.

After a series of free-throws made by Westminster, Parham closed out the night with a layup followed by a free throw to once more place the teams six points apart and set the ending score of the game.

“Coming out at the half, we wanted to increase the intensity and cut our turnovers,” Jefferson said. “Even though the end result wasn’t what we wanted, we made a positive strive in the right direction in the second half.”

Jefferson led the Eagles with 16 points, being five of 14 for field goals and three of five for three-pointers. He also set his season high with four steals during his 37 minutes of play.

KJ Harris, junior of McKinney, Texas, put 14 points up on the board, being 50% from the field goal range and three-point range, and leading the night with six assists.

The Eagles continue to Colorado for weekend games against Fort Lewis College at 7:30 p.m., Friday, and Western Colorado University at 7 p.m., Saturday.

“Our focus as a team is to put a whole game together and learn from our previous mistakes,” Jefferson said. “Also, play hard and give ourselves an opportunity to be victorious.”

Photo by Mackenzie Dahlberg Marcus Jefferson (3), middle, junior of Lewisville, Texas, drives toward the basket against Matt Kitzman (2), left, senior of Draper, Utah, during Saturday’s game against Westminster College in the Chicoine Center.