It’s been an up-and-down year for the Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team, but Saturday’s win at Western New Mexico secured the Skyhawks’ place in the league’s top eight and solidified a spot Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout tournament.
Trailing by four, Fort Lewis (16-10, 12-9 RMAC) blew Saturday’s game wide open with a 17-0 third quarter run that changed the entire complexion of the game. Western New Mexico was never able to recover from the FLC offensive explosion, as the Skyhawks kept the heat on until the final buzzer to win 73-62.
Dallas Dickerson led a Fort Lewis bench that outscored Western New Mexico’s reserves 33-4. She led FLC with 22 points on 6-for-9 shooting from the field, 4-for-5 from 3-point range and 6-for-7 from the foul line. Astrea Reed added 16 in the win, and Simone Ruedin had nine points off the bench.
“There were some calls early that didn’t go our way, and we got frustrated,” FLC head coach Jason Flores said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “It was a matter of pride and challenging ourselves to do better. We had the choice of gathering ourselves and getting a win or coming all this way to go home with a loss.”
They made up their minds in the third quarter.
The Skyhawks led by four after the first 10 minutes, but the Mustangs (9-18, 6-15 RMAC) came out firing in the third quarter and went on a 13-5 run to start the second half to take a four-point lead. The Fort Lewis response was an unfriendly one for the home team. The Skyhawks turned up the defense and went on a 17-0 run behind Dickerson’s hot shooting and an aggressive pressure defense.
Fort Lewis forced 27 turnovers and outscored the Mustangs 24-3 from behind the 3-point stripe.
“It was the defense that really sparked that run,” Flores said. “We got them into some traps, got some easy baskets, made some shots and, most importantly, grabbed the momentum.”
With everything going their way and a reeling opponent losing its grip on the outcome, the Skyhawks outscored the Mustangs 36-21 for the rest of the contest for an always impressive weekend road trip sweep in the RMAC.
“We were intent on going 2-0 this weekend, and we’re happy to have done that,” Flores said. “We have one mor,e and it’s senior night, so we can enjoy it more knowing that we’re already in. Anything can happen after that because it’s one and done.”
Fort Lewis will be back at Whalen Gymnasium at 7:30 p.m. Friday against Adams State for senior night.
jfries@durangoherald.com
