With such a high-powered offense and so many weapons for opponents to deal with, it only took a short burst of success for the Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team to take control of Saturday’s matchup at Regis.
The Skyhawks started the game slow and scored only 20 points in a sloppily-played second half, but what happened in between made all the difference. Fort Lewis put together a 14-0 run in the midst of a dominant 22-6 second-quarter effort to take a lead that wouldn’t be forfeited. Though the hot streak came to a screeching halt in the second half, it did enough damage in the end, as FLC held off the hosts to walk away with a 58-49 win.
It was a matchup of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference powers who were a combined 20-3 entering the New Year’s Eve contest. FLC improved to 11-2 and 6-2 in the RMAC, while Regis fell to 10-2 and 5-2 in conference.
Briana Clah led the first-half charge scoring 15 of her team-leading 22 overall points in the first 15 minutes. Kayla Herrera had 16 points for the Skyhawks in the win. The two guards put on a show in the first half as they combined for 30 of the team’s 38 points and came together at the right time to amass an offensive barrage that the Rangers couldn’t come back from.
“First off, it’s such a gutsy performance for our girls to come out and beat what I think is a great Regis team,” FLC head coach Jason Flores said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “Points were hard to come by for most of the game, and the intensity was as high as it has been all season. We’re lucky enough to have some players that can score points in a hurry, and that was the difference.”
Regis held a two-point lead after a slow opening 10 minutes, but they weren’t ready for the FLC team that greeted them in the second quarter. Clah and Herrera went off in the opening five minutes of the frame. At one point, the two sharpshooters made three consecutive 3-pointers before Clah’s jumper capped off a run of 14 unanswered points.
The FLC lead swelled to 14 points by halftime while the defense forced the home team into shooting a dismal 31 percent in the opening 20 minutes.
“That run was a culmination of what hard work at both ends can lead to,” Flores said. “It was a well-balanced attack and we were succeeding at both ends of the floor.”
FLC held a 38-24 to start the second half, but the Rangers turned up the pressure on defense in the third quarter and turned the tables for a short time.
Regis implemented a full-court press that confused FLC and forced the visitors into a single-digit quarter of their own with just nine points in the third. The Rangers kept the pressure on and worked the deficit down to four points. They couldn’t ground the Skyhawks long enough, however. Clah and company continued to convert from the foul line and Alyssa Yocky pulled down every rebound within her grasp to limit the Rangers’ chances.
Yocky’s 13 rebounds led all players, and she added nine points in the win while holding Regis’ Kaylie Rader to just two points.
The Skyhawks will head into the new year on a six-game winning streak before hitting the road next weekend for a 5:30 p.m. Friday matchup at Metro State.
jfries@durangoherald.com
