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Skyhawks win big in women's season opener
Herald Sports Writer
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Photo by RICHARD MALCOLM/Herald
Allison Rosel of the Skyhawks goes up for a basket during Saturday night's victory over Eastern New Mexico at Whalen Gymnasium in Durango. The Skyhawks won 94-56.
Fortunately for Fort Lewis fans, basketball season brings plenty of promise.
"Everybody played well," Fort Lewis College women's basketball coach Mark Kellogg said after Saturday night's 38-point victory to start the winter season.
"At the start, there were some nerves, some excitement, but I thought we settled in and played our way eventually."
Eastern New Mexico was the unknown: no exhibitions, no regular-season games, just a 14-point FLC victory in last year's season opener at Whalen Gymnasium to go by.
Fort Lewis College was the known: two exhibition victories against Division I opponents and an extraordinary amount of expectations after last year's record-setting season.
"We weren't sure. We really didn't know a lot about them," Skyhawks junior guard Laura Haugen said about the Lone Star Conference representative from Roswell, N.M.
"We were able to work a lot on our offense. Defensively, we've still got some things to work on, but we were able to get a lot of the younger kids involved."
Fort Lewis flashed its freshmen and The Magnificent Seven in a 94-56 victory Saturday night at Whalen Gym to usher in the winter season.
Haugen led four Skyhawks in double figures and scored a game-high 16 points.
She scored a layup off penetration; she hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key; she scored baseline with a left-handed layup off the glass; she hit another 3 from the wing.
Haugen helped the Skyhawks to a 44-28 halftime lead with 12 first-half points from nearly everywhere on the hardwood.
The rest of The Magnificent Seven - Abby Jackson, Allison Rosel, Audrey George, Erin Kerr, Katie Mackey and Lauren McCulloch - combined for 24 first-half points and 51 total points.
"I thought they did a really good job. Those seven returners, really, we know what we are going to get," Kellogg said.
The defense, as expected, sagged on Rosel in the post, so last year's most accurate shooter shot just 50 percent from the floor and finished with 10 points.
"People are going to try and take her out of the game," Kellogg said.
"She really didn't play that many minutes, though. If we would've played her 30 minutes, she probably would have scored 16 or 17 points. She could've been a little more aggressive; Allison, really, she's good enough to score through some of those double teams."
Rosel, on the receiving end from the low block, worked the high-low with George and Kerr, respectively, for four points on the Skyhawks' first two possessions of the second half.
Haugen penetrated the lane for a layup and another two points.
Mackey, who finished with 14 points, was fouled on her fast break layup attempt and made both free throws.
Rosel, on the giving end from the low block, worked the high-low with George (who beat her opponent on the dribble to the elbow for a pull-up jumper), starting a 10-2 run and an already insurmountable 22-point advantage.
The freshmen - Claire Janusz, Dana Schreibvogel, Jenna Santistevan, Mary Rose Paiz and Stephanie Beeman - combined for 27 total points in the blowout.
Santistevan and Paiz were worked into the regular rotation, the second twosome off the bench after Jackson and McCulloch.
Santistevan, who was 3-for-3 from the floor and 6-for-7 from the free-throw line, led the reserves with 12 points.
Paiz, who was 2-for-4 from the floor and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line, had seven points.
Schreibvogel scored four points, including a 3-pointer from the top of the key, and Beeman and Janusz had two points each.
"The freshmen did really well," Haugen said. "They were tough, and they were great on the boards; they're going to help us out a lot in rebounding."
Not only did every reserve score, but every reserve rebounded the basketball.
"I think if there was one area where we really needed help last season it was size," Kellogg said after the Skyhawks' 26-4 season from yesteryear.
"Rebounding ... these kids are tough and athletic, and they did a really good job (Saturday night)."
Fort Lewis, which had the support of the FLC women's soccer team and the idle FLC men's basketball team in attendance at Saturday's game, will host Angelo State and Oklahoma Panhandle State next Friday and Saturday, respectively, at Whalen Gym.
Calling all soccer fans, it's basketball season.
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