On Wednesday night, Colorado Christian took to their home court at the CCU Event Center to take on the Chadron State Eagles in RMAC play. CCU took advantage of strong team play throughout the game and was able to get out to an early lead and continue to build onto it throughout the game as they went on to win by a finals score of 85-52.
 
How it Happened – CCU got off to a blazing start as the game began Agnes Paul secured the opening basket of the game to put the Cougs up 2-0 to begin the game. After Chadron tied the game 2-2, CCU went on a 9-0 run fueled by Makenna Bodette who scored five of the nine points in the run. Every time that Chadron would start to battle back, the Cougars would pull farther away and with just over three minutes left in the first quarter, Victoria Perez nailed a three pointer to give Colorado Christian their biggest lead of the game at 11 as the score was 20-9. The teams exchanged buckets over the last few minutes of the first quarter, but CCU retained their big lead as they held the advantage 24-15 at the end of the first.  
The Eagles came out and fought back to begin the second quarter, and with eight minutes left in the first half, they had cut the Cougars lead down to just four points. Colorado Christian got back to form quickly and began to build their lead back up. Tessa Hauser delivered a couple of key baskets in the quarter, along with Dasiya Jones and MyKaela Moore to push their lead back into double digits 35-24 with two minutes left until halftime. A late three pointer from Chadron made the score 37-27 heading into the break.  
The first half was a dominant team performance from the Cougars. They shot 16-33 from the floor (48.5%), and hit 3-6 (50%) from downtown. Eight players from CCU finished the first half with at least three points in the half. They were led in the half by Makenna Bodette who scored seven points, followed by Agnes Paul who tallied six. Tessa Hauser, Maggie Hutka, Christen Curry, and Mykaela Moore all finished with four points in the half, while Victoria Perez and Dasiya Jones finished with three points each.  
CCU came out in the third quarter much like they began the game as they were knocking everything down. Not only were they connecting on the offensive end, but they were clamping down on defense and really making it tough for Chadron to attempt to get back into the game. Dasiya Jones knocked down an early three pointer to get things rolling, and then later in the half Victoria Perez hit back to back shots from beyond the arc to extend the Cougars lead to 17 points as they led 50-33. Maggie Hutka hit a layup with less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter, which pushed their lead to 21. Makenna Bodette finished the quarter off in style as she hit a jumper as time expired in the third quarter to give Colorado Christian a 64-41 lead heading into the final quarter.  
The Cougs didn't let up in the fourth quarter as they continued to pressure Chadron State and run their offense to perfection. Mia Guest sank a layup with just over four minutes left in the game which gave CCU a 29 point lead. Aleksandra Clayton knocked down a three pointer with two minutes remaining which pushed the lead to 31 at 81-50. The Cougars went on to win by a final score of 85-52.
 
Inside the Box Score – Simply stating that it was a team victory by Colorado Christian is an understatement. The Cougs had one of the best all-around games as a team that you will ever see. Every player that took the court on the night ended up scoring in the game. As a team, they shot 52.9% (37-70) from the floor, and 50% (7-14) from downtown. They outrebounded Chadron 46-30 and also dished out 26 assists compared to just nine from the Eagles.
 
CCU was led in scoring by Makenna Bodette who finished with 13 points. Other Cougars in double figures were Dasiya Jones with 10, and Tessa Hauser with 10 points. Hauser nearly had a double-double as she grabbed nine rebounds in the game as well. Victoria Perez led the team in assists with seven, to go along with nine points.
 
Up Next – With the victory, the Cougars record now sits at 6-3 overall and 2-1 in conference play. They will take to the road for their next matchup as they travel to Gunnison, CO to take on Western Colorado on Saturday December 10^th. Tip is scheduled for 5PM MST.