Strong interior offensive play and stifling perimeter defense sent the Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team to a third consecutive win Friday night in the first of two massive games this weekend against conference foes from Utah.
With a showdown with No. 21 Westminster College set for 5:30 p.m. Saturday, the Skyhawks were able to limit the minutes of key players and still safely secure a 65-56 win Friday night against a quality Dixie State University team inside Whalen Gymnasium in Durango.
“Huge team win,” FLC head coach Orlando Griego said. “I thought we rebounded the ball really well. I thought Sydney Candelaria played really good defense on their point guard.”
FLC 14-5, 10-4 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) raced out to a 34-24 halftime lead behind eight points each from forwards Jordan Carter and Jordan Vasquez. The Skyhawks held Dixie State (13-7, 8-6 RMAC) to 2-of-14 shooting from 3-point range in the first half and 27.8% shooting from the field overall.
Carter finished with 14 points and four rebounds. Vasquez added 15 points and seven rebounds. Both of FLC’s bigs shot 6-of-12 from the field.
Vasquez channeled Carter a bit and did some of her scoring from mid-range.
“It felt good; something I really tried to focus in on today for some reason,” Vasquez said of her outside shooting. “A lot of teams don’t think I can shoot, but I believe I can. I worked on it all summer; might as well apply it to my game and see what happens.”
The Skyhawks had attentive rebounding by guards Candelaria, Katrina Chandler and Kayla Herrera-Flores, who combined for 14 of FLC’s 40 rebounds, and the Skyhawks controlled the boards the entire way.
Dixie State would get within four points at 42-38 thanks to a 9-0 run in the third quarter. But FLC got a big 3 from Chloe Warrington assisted by Carter, and the Skyhawks never looked back.
“If Chloe has a wide-open 3, Chloe is gonna make a wide-open 3,” Carter said. “Three points is better than two.”
Chandler, Herrera-Flores Kaitlyn Romero and Warrington all finished with six points for FLC. Chandler had four assists and four steals to help her overcome an uncharacteristic eight turnovers.
Dixie State had 14 points from Ali Franks and 12 from Keslee Stevenson. Chesney Stevens scored eight, but seven came in the first quarter. She had a game-high 10 rebounds.
FLC held Dixie State guard London Pavlica without a point until the game’s final minutes. She finished with six points, six rebounds and five assists.
Now, FLC will welcome a mighty test against Westminster College (17-3, 12-2 RMAC). The Griffins throttled Adams State 63-47 on Friday night in Alamosa.
While Westminster didn’t have to play its starters many minutes Friday, FLC also had a chance to keep some key players under 30 minutes. Carter and Vasquez played only 22 minutes each, while Chandler and Candelaria were the only players for FLC to log more than 30 minutes.
“It’s very exciting,” Carter said of Saturday’s game. “Coming in ranked, I think we have something to prove tomorrow. Those are the most fun games.”
For FLC, Saturday night is a chance to prove it will be one of the teams to contend with in the eight-team conference tournament that looms only one month away.
“They’re a nationally-ranked team for a reason,” Griego said. “They have a lot of wins. I’m very confident in our team and what we’ve done so far. It’s gonna be a battle.
“I know our kids are gonna leave it all out there on the floor. We’re really gonna run, really push the pace. At the end of 40 minutes, our team is gonna be tired because we’re gonna be pushing so hard.”
jlivingston@ durangoherald.com
