Rebounding and free-throw shooting have been an indicator of success and failure for the Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team this season, and that was that case Saturday night in Pueblo. Unfortunately for the Skyhawks, it was a bad night in both departments.
After cutting into Colorado State University-Pueblo’s 11-point lead to get within 33-26 at halftime, the Skyhawks caught fire early in the third quarter and were within two points twice at 39-37 and 43-41. But, out of a media timeout with four minutes to go in the third quarter, the host ThunderWolves quickly went on a 12-2 run to end the quarter to take a commanding 55-43 lead into the final 10 minutes of play.
That run continued and reached 17-2 before FLC found another basket, and the ThunderWolves outscored the Skyhawks 29-12 in the game’s final 14 minutes of action to secure a 70-53 victory.
FLC (4-4, 1-2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) was outrebounded 47-33 and shot only 4-of-11 at the foul line against the two-time defending conference champion ThunderWolves (5-3, 3-0 RMAC).
“On the road, you have to limit possession for the home team as much as you can. We didn’t do a good job of that,” said FLC head coach Jason Flores. “We were a little frenetic, and we missed a number of shots early in our offense. It was coming from the right place of players trying to make plays, but we’re a better offense when it comes in rhythm.”
Sophomore forward Jade Adams led the ThunderWolves with 22 points on 10-of-16 shooting. She added six rebounds. Senior guard Jennah Knafelc had 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Fort Lewis received 14 points from junior Kayla Herrera, who added three steals and two blocked shots. She had 10 points at halftime to lead the team. Sophomore guard Sydney Candelaria scored 12 points and had four assists and three steals. She was 6-of-8 shooting before she missed her final five shots to finish 6-of-13.
Senior forward Alyssa Yocky had eight points and 10 rebounds, and sophomore forward Jordan Carter added nine points and seven rebounds. Carter and Yocky combined to go 1-of-6 at the foul line for FLC.
“It’s a really tough place to play,” Flores said. “We had more turnovers than assists, and that’s always an indicator of our team playing well or not. CSU-Pueblo’s players have been part of back-to-back conference championships. They’re good players, and I don’t think they’ve lost a regular-season home conference game here in two years, maybe one the last three years. It’s a tough matchup.”
FLC has played six of its first eight games on the road and opened with three consecutive road conference games. The Skyhawks will be at home next Saturday and Sunday against South Dakota School of Mines & Technology and Black Hills State University, respectively.
“I think we’re maybe one of maybe two teams in the conference that had to start with three straight conference road games,” Flores said. “That’s tough to get over. I’m not where I want us to be, but we’ve had a lot of close games and have been on the road trying to find our identity.
“It’s much easier at home when you’re not traveling, you have your home fans. There’s a lot of little things you need to fix early, and that can get masked by being at home in your comfort zone. We’ve had to learn on the fly on the road, so it will be good to get home for a while.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
