The Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team pulled off a huge upset against the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s regular season champion Colorado Mines team, but it was no surprise to this group.
The Skyhawks (18-10) have fought through injuries and adversity far more often than anyone would have hoped for this season, and they’re still standing. After disposing of the No. 25 Orediggers, Fort Lewis will have the tough task of stopping the league’s Player of the Year, Brittany Hernandez, and the UC-Colorado Springs Mountain Lions in the RMAC Shootout’s semifinal on Friday.
CSU-Pueblo and Colorado Christian will play in the other semifinal, and the winners will meet in the championship at 7 p.m. Saturday in Pueblo.
“We really expected to be here even though we were the eighth seed. It doesn’t matter much in this league,” Fort Lewis head coach Jason Flores said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “We’ve gone through a lot of changes this season, but we hung in there and we’ve redefined ourselves in the process. That’s not easy to do.”
Fort Lewis has been playing without their best player, senior post Mary Rambo, for much of the season. It has taken awhile for the Skyhawks to find themselves without their go-to player down low, but the gritty group has found a way to win. They’ve come out on top in 10 of 13 down the stretch and have peaked at the right time.
Astrea Reed has carried the load for Fort Lewis without Rambo and did again on Tuesday. Reed led the Skyhawks with 24 points in the opening-round upset and leads FLC, averaging 13 points a game while Dallas Dickerson averages 12 points to lead a dominant bench.
Fort Lewis’ reward for knocking out the RMAC’s top team is no picnic. The Mountain Lions (21-8) were unstoppable at Whalen Gymnasium on New Years Day in an 83-65 road win. Hernandez had 17 of her game-high 23 points in a nightmare first half for Fort Lewis in which UCCS jumped out to a 23-5 lead.
“They played a fantastic game the last time we saw them,” Flores said. “Hernandez had her way with us and, when we started double-teaming her, their other players made shots from all over. We’re going to have to make it tougher on all of them this time around.”
Reed might lead the Skyhawks in points, but the seniors for FLC lead by example. Kate Bayes had 21 points in the opening round win, and Kylie Santos added seven points, including a crucial 3-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer that secured the Skyhawks’ momentum. The entire squad will have to match Santos’ constant hard work on the defensive end. Her work ethic off the court was honored Thursday, as Santos was named the Summit Award winner for her excellence in academics at FLC.
Stopping Hernandez, however, has to be the focus for the streaking Skyhawks. The UCCS junior swept last week’s awards as she was named the Defensive Player of the Year and the Player of the Year to claim both awards for only the third time in RMAC history.
“It’s just been one big task after another for this group, and this is a big one,” Flores said. “Lately, I’ve been seeing this win-or-go-home attitude, and we want to get it done no matter what it takes. Nobody wants this to end.”
Fort Lewis and UC-Colorado Springs are scheduled to tip a 5 p.m. Friday.
jfries@durangoherald.com
