The last time they played, Fort Lewis College left a bad taste in the mouth of the Colorado Mesa women’s basketball team.
The Skyhawks ruined the Mavericks’ perfect run through the 2013-14 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference women’s basketball season. In the final conference game of the year, FLC upset Colorado Mesa 76-70 to send the Mavericks to a 21-1 conference record.
Now, the Mavericks return to Whalen Gymnasium nearly 10 months later seeking some revenge in a game at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
“Mesa has had a great couple of years. They bring the best out of us, as well,” FLC head coach Jason Flores said. “We were the only team in conference to beat them last year, but we’re two different teams now.”
Colorado Mesa (6-2, 3-1 RMAC) lost a few key players from last year’s team that reached the third round of the NCAA Regionals before losing to West Texas A&M, which is coached by former FLC head coach Mark Kellogg.
But Flores still expects the energy from the rivalry to fuel both teams in a positive way.
“Coach (Taylor) Wagner does a great job. It’s always a good matchup and always fun to play against really good teams that are well coached,” Flores said. “It’s a rivalry, but there is a lot of respect from us for what they do. Their players play the right way. Sometimes rivalries are ugly, but our rivalry is a healthy one, and we respect the way they play and expect a hard-fought game.”
FLC (4-3, 1-2 RMAC) has been a strong defensive team this season and is ranked second in the conference, allowing only 59 points per game. But Colorado Mesa is the second-best scoring offense, averaging 74.4 points per game behind Erin Reichle’s 19.6 points per game, which is good for second in the RMAC behind only UC-Colorado Springs’ Abby Kirchoff, who FLC faced two weeks ago.
“We’ve played a few good scorers. St. Edward’s had one and Kirchoff and some girls in the (Division I) games we’ve played,” Flores said. “Mesa is another good team with another player putting up good numbers. Our strength, so far outside of the Colorado Springs game, is we’ve been solid defensively. We have to do that again. If we let (Reichle) roam free, she’ll hurt us.”
FLC has struggled on the offensive end but began to find a rhythm in the second half at home last week against Adams State. Junior forward Mary Brinton continues to lead the team with 12.3 points per game, and she’s added 5.3 rebounds per contest. Junior guard Kylie Santos is up to 7.3 points per game, and senior post Kaile Magazzeni leads the team with 6.7 rebounds per game to go along with 6.9 points. Brinton and Magazzeni will work to limit Mesa’s Leanndra Gilbert, who has averaged 10.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game down low.
FLC now is shooting 40 percent from the field while holding opponents to 33.8 percent shooting.
Flores said 100 percent of the team’s attention has been on Colorado Mesa, and the Skyhawks have yet to even watch film on Sunday’s opponent, Western State (3-5, 2-2 RMAC).
The Mountaineers have been led by Jade McIntosh’s 13.1 points per game and 7.6 rebounds. They’ve scored an average of 62.4 points per game while giving up 73.9. Western State is 0-2 on the road this year, while FLC enters Saturday 2-0 at Whalen.
“We haven’t seen much of Western, but they’ve got a couple of new guards that make them better than what they were last year,” Flores said. “They’re explosive and athletic.
“It will be two totally different ball games Saturday and Sunday. We definitely are worrying about Mesa first, and then we will have a quick turnaround to look at Western’s different style of play.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
