Taking on the No. 18 team in the country and the best team in the conference led to a rude awakening in the conference opener for Fort Lewis College.
The Skyhawks had a tough matchup Friday night in the first game of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference schedule, getting outgunned from the start, with the No. 18 UC-Colorado Springs Mountain Lions leading all but the first 40 seconds of the game.
After going down 12-5 early, FLC (3-2, 0-1 RMAC) never got closer than 22-18 with 8 minutes, 21 seconds to go in the first half, and the Mountain Lions (6-1, 1-0 RMAC) dominated play from there to take an 91-64 victory at the Gallogly Events Center in Colorado Springs.
“Giving up 91 points, that’s not us,” FLC head coach Jason Flores said. “We are in the top two in the conference in defensive scoring, and we didn’t do what we needed to do. We played hard, but we didn’t play good.”
FLC couldn’t stop the hot 3-point shooting of the Mountain Lions. UC-Colorado Springs hit 12-of-27 from 3 compared to 3-of-11 for FLC.
Abby Kirchoff, the RMAC Preseason Player of the Year, scored a game-high 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field, including 5-of-11 from 3. She broke the UC-Colorado Springs career scoring record with 8:30 to play in the second half, surpassing 1,466 points on a 3-point bucket.
“She’s been (one of the best players in the conference) for a few years now, and she’s a really good scorer. She has a high motor, and you tip your cap to a good player having a good game,” Flores said. “Next time, we have to defend her better.”
Gabby Ramirez added 16 points for UC-Colorado Springs. Her 5-of-8 shooting, including 4-of-6 from 3, helped the Mountain Lions to a 50.8 shooting percentage from the field. FLC shot 34.5 percent.
FLC junior forward Mary Brinton led the Skyhawks with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Kaile Magazzeni and Kylie Santos each added 10 points, and guards Kate Bayse and Skylyn Webb led FLC with four rebounds each.
“We missed a lot of shots we could’ve made. When that happens, we have to be able to play good defense. We didn’t do that,” Flores said.
FLC will look to pick up their first RMAC win at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at CSU-Pueblo.
“This is probably the hardest road trip in the whole conference with the caliber of teams we’re playing and the atmosphere they both have,” Flores said of playing UC-Colorado Springs and CSU-Pueblo on consecutive nights. “Pueblo is a tough-minded team, especially at home, and we have to match that at their place. We need to toughen up between now and (Saturday) night.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
