Erika Richards had tears streaming down her face during pregame introductions. By the end of the game, she had the No. 2 team in the country reduced to tears.
Richards quickly transitioned from an emotional senior night introduction with her family at Whalen Gymnasium. After drying her eyes and putting her game-face on, the 5-9 guard from Mesa, Ariz., scored a career-high 37 points to lead the Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team to a 76-70 victory against previously unbeaten and No. 2-ranked Colorado Mesa in the regular-season finale.
“I am kind of an emotional person,” said Richards, drawing laughs from fellow seniors Christie Groh and Ashley Kuchar. “It has been a great ride. It was just a lot of emotion there at the beginning. I just used that to propel me forward.
“I just didn’t want to let (the seniors) down and didn’t want to let the rest of the team down. I was just thinking about them and playing for them because I love them, and I didn’t want to lose.”
Richards started the game 6-for-6 shooting the ball as she helped the FLC Skyhawks (16-10, 13-9 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) build an early lead that reached as high as nine points in the first half.
Richards finished the game 11-of-17 shooting, including 5-of-8 behind the 3-point line. She converted on 10-of-13 free throw attempts.
The Mavericks (25-1, 21-1 RMAC) quickly cut into the FLC lead in the second half, but the Skyhawks always found a way to regain momentum.
“In shootaround, I had a feeling we were going to (win). I just felt we were due,” FLC head coach Jason Flores said. “We said ‘Why not us? Somebody can get them, why can’t that be us?’ We ran with it. Our effort drove us there.”
The Skyhawks embodied determination in the face of adversity. Colorado Mesa claimed leads at 62-61 and 64-63 with less than five minutes to play, but big baskets by Richards put FLC back on top on each of the next possessions. Those shots paired with tough defensive play against Colorado Mesa’s best shooters left the Mavericks searching for answers.
“I think we had them frustrated,” Kuchar said. “It was fun to be able to go against this mountain of a team that was undefeated. We had absolutely nothing to lose. Nobody expected us to win, but we all knew what we were shooting for.”
The Mavericks cut the FLC lead to 72-70 with less than a minute to play, but Richards came up with another big turnaround jumper off the glass and a pair of free throws to ice the game.
Kuchar struggled with her shot the majority of the game, but the senior from Provo, Utah, came up with eight points in the final 12 minutes of the game to help propel the Skyhawks.
“That’s basketball. You have to try. If something is not working, you have to keep going,” Kuchar said. “The three of us seniors had a big role on the team this year. We had to score and produce. It is frustrating when your shot doesn’t fall, but you have to keep going.”
As a team, the Skyhawks shot 42.4 percent from the field while holding the Colorado Mesa Mavericks (25-1, 21-1 RMAC) to 38.8-percent shooting.
Flores was proud of his team’s defense and their ability to close out a game against a national power.
“To do something no other team has been able to do is always a tremendous feat,” Flores said. “The better part was that it was a great game. You couldn’t look at any factors where one team had an advantage over the other. It was a great college basketball game.”
The Skyhawks quickly rattled Colorado Mesa’s star guard Sharaya Selsor, who had three fouls in the first half and picked up a quick fourth in the second half. Selsor hit a few big shots near the end of the game, but the Skyhawks limited her to 22 points on 7-of-17 shooting.
“It was better motivation for us to have their best player in foul trouble,” Kuchar said. “It gave us something to aim for.”
Groh recorded a double-double for the Skyhawks with 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. The senior battled a rush of adrenaline early in the game and shot just 4-for-15, but her presence in the inside post rattled the Mavericks.
“We just had to focus on the fundamentals,” Groh said. “They are a good team, and we just had to focus on doing what we needed to do. All five individuals out there.”
The FLC win, a Colorado Christian (15-11, 13-9 RMAC) win and a Regis (15-11, 13-9 RMAC) loss created a three-way tie in the RMAC standings for the three through five seeds in the conference tournament. After the tiebreaker, the Skyhawks earned the 3-seed and a home game at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday against Black Hills State (13-13, 12-10 RMAC) in the RMAC Shootout.
“This win is going to give us tons of momentum going into the tournament,” Richards said. “Our past few games have been hard ones, and it was really nice to get a big win over a big team to propel us forward.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
Senior Night
Fort Lewis College
Women’s Basketball
Christie Groh, F, 6-1, Grapevine, Texas
Ashley Kuchar, G, 5-8, Provo, Utah
Erika Richards, G, 5-9, Mesa, Ariz.
Durango Herald
