Log In


Reset Password
Sports Youth Sports Professional Sports More Sports College Sports High School Sports

Wide-open field

FLC women face Cougars to open RMAC Shootout
Mary Brinton and the Fort Lewis College Skyhawks navigated a tough season to win seven of their last 10 games and earn the sixth seed in the RMAC Shootout. Brinton, who was named the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday, will look to help FLC past No. 3 Colorado Christian in Lakewood on Tuesday.

An up-and-down season with a relatively inexperienced team all led to one place: Lakewood.

That’s where the No. 6 Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team will visit Tuesday night in the opening round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout. Awaiting the Skyhawks is No. 3 Colorado Christian, the hottest team in the conference in the second half of the season after an 0-8 start to the year.

The Cougars (15-13, 15-7 RMAC) benefitted from the return of two key players to their lineup after the holiday break, and FLC (16-10, 13-9 RMAC) was on the wrong side of a 62-49 game the only time the two teams met this season, Jan. 23 in Durango.

But the Skyhawks feel more like the unknown team this time around, as young players have stepped up in the last month of the season to help send FLC to six wins in its last eight games and seven in its last 10.

“I think it helps to be able to scout some of those players that are back that they had get eligible second semester,” FLC head coach Jason Flores said of the Cougars. “They are playing really well and they’ve won a lot of games down the stretch and definitely are one of the best teams in the conference.

“We’ve been playing well, too.”

FLC has had two conference players of the week in the last two weeks, with junior forward Mary Brinton of Pagosa Springs being named the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday, one week after senior forward Kaile Magazzeni was named the conference’s defensive player of the week.

“Everyone has figured out what we need to do to be a good team,” Flores said. “We’ve figured out what works.”

What has worked is going inside the paint to Brinton and letting the offense work from the inside out. Turning it over and impatient play has been the team’s downfall, and it was the case in FLC’s loss to Colorado Christian earlier in the year. FLC turned it over 28 times in that game.

“I hope we learned our lesson from not only that game but Saturday at Colorado Mesa as well,” Flores said, referencing the team’s regular-season finale loss at Colorado Mesa in which the team struggled with turnovers the final 10 minutes of a close game. “Last time we played, we had too many quick shots and played impatient on the perimeter, and that fed into Christian’s strengths in their zone defense.

“We need to get the ball to the baseline, the short-corner inside and go there constantly. We’re prepared and ready for that extended zone more this time.”

FLC will look to contain Christina Whitelaw and Alyssa Fressle and will need to box out Ali Meyer on the boards. Brinton, who had 20 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots against Colorado Christian last time around, has led FLC with 14.3 points per game and has averaged 6.5 rebounds. Kate Bayes and Magazzeni both are close to nine points per game, and guards Dallas Dickerson, Kylie Santos and Skylyn Webb both have come along offensively down the stretch.

They’ll all look to shoot better than their 33.3-percent effort in the loss to the Cougars this time around.

If FLC is able to upset the Cougars, the Skyhawks would face the winner of No. 2 UC-Colorado Springs and No. 7 Regis in the semifinals at Colorado Mesa on Friday. FLC has beat both of those teams already this season.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if any of the top-seven seeds won. Every game is going to be close, I think,” Flores said. “Multiple teams can even give Mesa fits in the tournament. It’s more wide open this year than it has been in a long time, and I think we have as good of a chance as anybody.”

jlivingston@durangoherald.com



Reader Comments