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Mavericks make it 51 in a row

FLC women fall to sixth in RMAC after loss

When a team has won 50 consecutive home games, it knows how to close out the final 10 minutes of close games.

Fort Lewis College found that out firsthand Saturday night in Grand Junction, where the Colorado Mesa women’s basketball team stretched its streak to 51 home wins in a row in a 66-52 win against the Skyhawks.

The game was much closer than the final score indicated with both teams laying it all on the line in their final regular-season game. The Mavericks were playing for their third consecutive Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular-season title, while FLC was competing with hopes of squeezing past CSU-Pueblo for the fourth seed in next week’s RMAC Shootout, which would have given FLC a home game in the first round.

Instead of earning a home game, FLC finished the regular season in sixth in the RMAC standings with a 13-9 record in conference games and a 16-10 overall record. FLC fell from fifth to sixth after finishing tied with Black Hills State in the conference standings. The Yellow Jackets owned a tiebreaker via a 59-52 home win against the Skyhawks on Jan. 3.

“It was a tough game,” FLC head coach Jason Flores. “For us, in a transition year, to tie for fifth in the standings is a pretty good accomplishment. But we don’t want to be done yet.”

The Mavericks (22-4, 19-3 RMAC) were led down the stretch by the play of Leandra Gilbert, who scored a game-high 21 points while grabbing five rebounds and dishing out four assists. The senior also went 3-for-3 from behind the 3-point line, including two big makes late.

“Let’s be honest, she’s not a great 3-point shooter but went 3-for-3 in a huge spot of the game,” Flores said of Gilbert. “Give her credit, it was senior night and she had a great game.

“Tough inside and hit big 3s. Those were breakers for us, and we couldn’t overcome it.”

FLC led 42-40 with 13 minutes, 31 seconds to go but never would lead again after going down 45-42 with 10:23 to go.

Both teams didn’t score for more than two minutes, but the Mavericks went on a 21-10 run the rest of the game with FLC going 2:13 without a basket from the 7:09 mark until there only was 4:44 to play.

Flores attributed the drought to turnovers – FLC committed 25 to only nine for the Mavericks.

“The only thing that lost us the game was turnovers,” Flores said. “We lost our composure, and as soon as you do that they hit you on the run and that’s it.”

One night after setting a career high in scoring with 23 points in a win at Western State, FLC junior forward Mary Brinton of Pagosa Springs set a career high with 15 rebounds. She also led the team in scoring with 19 points for her fourth double-double of the season.

But Flores said a big reason for the turnovers was the team trying to force the ball inside the paint to Brinton too early in the shot clock.

“Instead of just letting it come, we were itching to win so bad that we tried to force passes,” Flores said. “We were trying to make the spectacular play.”

Kaile Magazzeni added 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the Skyhawks. Skylyn Webb scored seven points and had another eight rebounds for FLC, which won that category in a 47-25 landslide.

Colorado Mesa received another 18 points from Erin Reichle, who was 7-of-21 shooting, and 11 points and six rebounds from Shanna Halalilo.

The Mavericks now have won three consecutive regular season RMAC titles outright and once again will host the RMAC Shootout. They’ll open the tournament Tuesday night against Western New Mexico.

Meanwhile, FLC will hit the road to face third-seeded Colorado Christian (15-13, 15-7 RMAC), which started 0-8 before a strong second half with the return of some injured and previously ineligible players.

Flores, whose team has won six of its last eight against tough competition, said he believes his team and Colorado Mesa have the most momentum entering the tournament.

“I don’t think (Colorado Christian) wants to see us coming in. I think we’re one of the hotter teams in the conference down the stretch,” Flores said. “We will put all of our focus into the playoffs now. It’s one-and-done time. All year this team has responded pretty well to adversity and losses. It is the makeup of our team to come back and put up a good fight.”

jlivingston@durangoherald.com



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