With a televised battle scheduled for Saturday against unbeaten and third-ranked Colorado State University-Pueblo, it would have been easy for the Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team to overlook the two-win New Mexico Highlands team.
Fort Lewis (16-5, 11-5 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) pulled away in the second half to beat New Mexico Highlands 74-58 on Friday in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
Shelby Patterson was 10-for-11 from the free-throw line and led the Skyhawks with a game-high 16 points. Alyssa Yocky had 14 points and eight rebounds, and Kayla Herrera added 14 points in the win.
“We got a bit complacent in the first half and let them hang in the game a bit longer that we would have liked,” Fort Lewis head coach Jason Flores said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “It was just a slow start, but we got it together in the second half with some good ball movement. We played everyone we had, and nobody played more than 30 minutes, which is important heading into (Saturday).”
The Skyhawks trailed for much of the opening half, but a late second-quarter run gave the Skyhawks a 32-29 lead at halftime and a lot more confidence for the second half.
FLC dominated the glass with 33 rebounds to only 16 for the Cowgirls 33-16.
They also continued their success at the foul line, going 23-of-28 as a team. The Cowgirls only managed to pitch in seven points from the charity stripe. The combination of dominance at the line and on the glass led to a double-digit lead, and New Mexico Highlands couldn’t keep up.
Kaitlyn Romero had nine points off the bench in the win, and Ande Lampert added eight. Now, they’ll be able to focus strictly on the 22-0 ThunderWolves.
“We’ll have to go in there and do what nobody else has been able to do all season,” Flores said. “It’s a big game for both programs, and it’s on TV so the atmosphere will be fun. We will literally need to do all the little things right to have a chance. We had 20 turnovers tonight, and that’s not going to cut it against Pueblo.”
Saturday’s game is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. CSU-Pueblo won the first meeting of the season 79-56 in Durango on Dec. 2. It was the conference opener for both teams. The game will be televised on Comcast Entertainment Television.
jfries@durangoherald.com
