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Fort Lewis women host Western State and CSU-Pueblo this weekend

Reserves are cure for injury bug
Fresh off being named an Academic All-District player, Fort Lewis College senior guard Kylie Santos will look to lead her team into a big weekend of conference play against Western State and CSU-Pueblo.

The injury bug has followed the Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team for much of the season, but the Skyhawks are making the best of it.

Limited minutes from starters and multiple injuries have opened the door for a number of contributors off the Skyhawks’ bench. Head coach Jason Flores plays at least 10 players every night and, a few times this season, they’ve had at least 10 scorers. They’ll need the same effort this weekend as Fort Lewis will host Western State (4-15, 2-15 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) and first-place Colorado State University-Pueblo (19-4, 14-3 RMAC).

“Our younger girls have really come a long way, and we’re getting production from so many different sources,” Fort Lewis head coach Jason Flores said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “They’ve given us good, consistent minutes, and you never know where the production is coming from. That can be both good and bad.”

The Skyhawks (13-9, 9-8 RMAC) split last weekend in South Dakota with a double-overtime win Friday in Rapid City against South Dakota Mines and a 74-71 loss to RMAC Rocky Division leading Black Hills State on Saturday.

FLC freshman Alyssa Yocky came off the bench and had a career-high with 21 points and 10 rebounds in Friday’s 75-69 marathon win. Dallas Dickerson added 16 points for the Skyhawks’ reserves, who spent the weekend outscoring their opponents 83-36.

The Yellow Jackets barely held off the Skyhawks in Saturday’s game as the tired and shorthanded Fort Lewis bunch wouldn’t go away.

“We’re not crazy about celebrating moral victories,” Flores said. “Sure, we played well against a very good team, but we expect to do that. It was a great effort, but it was a loss and we’re competitors. We don’t like to lose to anyone.”

The Skyhawks dominated the first meeting with the Mountaineers and cruised to a 84-45 win in which five Skyhawks finished in double figures scoring. The FLC defense was relentless, as Western State scored single digits in the third and fourth quarters.

They’ll have to be ready to stop the Mountaineers’ Taylor Long, who is seventh in the RMAC with 14.6 points per game. Long struggled in the first meeting scoring nine points on 3-for-10 from the floor.

It was a much different scenario, however, when the Skyhawks last played the ThunderWolves.

CSU-Pueblo scored 25 points in the fourth quarter to win 68-54 on Dec. 18 in Pueblo. Tuileisu Anderson led all scorers with 21 points, while Lauren Heyn and Ashley Piper had 16 each in the win.

The ThunderWolves are in a three-way tie for first place in the RMAC and have won four consecutive games.

Astrea Reed scored 15 points for FLC in the first meeting. Reed leads the Skyhawks with 12.6 points per game.

The Skyhawks will tip at 5:30 p.m. Friday against Western State and Saturday with CSU-Pueblo at Whalen Gymnasium.

jfries@durangoherald.com



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