The Chadron State Eagles went into the half with a three-point deficit after shooting 8-for-14 from 3-point range in the first 20 minutes.
Then, in the second half, the Eagles came back down to earth.
The Colorado State University-Pueblo ThunderWolves women’s basketball team held the Eagles to shooting from 2-for-9 from three-point range in the second half in route to a 73-60 win Friday night.
“It was kind of a combination of kind of a natural, eventually, they’re going to cool off, hopefully,” said head coach Kip Drown. “Then we extended out defensively and took away some of those looks.”
Although the ThunderWolves went into halftime with only a three point lead after shooting 35 percent from the field in the first half, the Pack began the second half on a 20-6 run to take a 54-37 lead with a little more than 11 minutes left in the game.
“(It was) real big,” Drown said. “The first five minutes really set a tone for the whole second half in being in control in the second half.”
Even though the ThunderWolves managed to shoot from less that 40 percent from the field of Friday night, they accumulated 52 total rebounds, including 21 offensive rebounds.
“(It was) really big because you look at our shooting percentage, we didn’t shoot the ball particularly well,” Drown said. “If you’re not make shots, then you really need to pound the glass, and we did that.”
Leading the way for the Pack, which saw three players reach the double digits was Katie Nehf, who finished with 22 points, five rebounds and three assists only 21 minutes.
“She is such a big part of everything we do, both offensively and defensively,” Drown said. “I’m just really happy for her because I’m hoping confidence wise, this will kind of take her up offensively and give her that boost we need for tomorrow night and the rest of the year.”
Next up, the women will take on the Black Hills State Yellow Jackets on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in the Massari Arena.
“Saturday night games are really hard because most people are trying to prepare for Friday, get that first win, and then you got to do what you got to do to get ready for Saturday.” Drown said. “They play a little different that Chadron does. They’re going to create some more pressure up the floor, they’re going to zone up a little bit more, they’re going to extend their defense a little bit more.”
