An explosive second half from Katrina Chandler paired with a dominant defensive effort in the first led the Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team to a huge road win Saturday in Golden.
The Skyhawks (11-3, 7-2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference), one night removed from a humbling defeat at University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, stormed into Lockridge Arena and stunned Colorado School of Mines (8-6, 5-4 RMAC) with a 64-55 victory.
“I’m extremely happy with the way our girls responded after a game of not being ourselves,” FLC head coach Orlando Griego said. “For them to dig in deep and get back to our brand of basketball was so huge for us. Big credit to our girls.”
Chandler tied her career high of 21 points with 19 scored in the second half. She also had six rebounds and was a menace to the Orediggers by drawing numerous fouls. She went 12-of-17 shooting at the foul line.
“We switched up our game plan,” Griego said. “They were switching screens, so we wanted (Chandler) to not bring the ball up the floor and come off screens. The thought was to get her on a weaker defender, get downhill and go finish. They were bumping her, and she was strong and got to the free-throw line and put them in.”
Jordan Carter also turned in a huge night for FLC, as the junior forward had 16 points and nine rebounds. Sydney Candelaria got FLC out to a hot start with eight of her 10 points in the first half.
“Carter played phenomenal,” Griego said. “It was a good test for her against a physical team, and she made key baskets and free throws for us and got some big rebounds. She controlled the paint and was a big factor down there.”
FLC built a lead as large as 12 numerous times in the second half, but the final five minutes were close thanks to the play of Denali Pinto of Mines. She scored 18 points and had eight rebounds, though she shot only 5-of-17 and 2-of-10 from 3-point range.
“The biggest thing I saw was Sydney Candelaria’s defense on Pinto,” Griego said. “Sydney made her 18 points extremely hard.”
Sammy Van Sickle of Mines had seven points and a game-high 10 rebounds. She attempted a 3 with less than 30 seconds to play, but it was partially blocked by FLC’s Kayla Herrera-Flores, and the rebound was grabbed by Carter, who was fouled and went to the foul line to extend FLC’s six-point lead to eight to ice the game.
The Skyhawks held Mines to 22% shooting in the first half and 29.3% overall in the game. A night after FLC was 2-of-21 from 3-point range, the Skyhawks made 5-of-18 Saturday. FLC also improved at the foul line, as it went 23-of-34 a night after it shot 10-of-26.
“We know we didn’t play our type of basketball (Friday),” Griego said. “For the girls to respond on the second day of a road trip is a credit to their competitive nature.”
FLC led 25-21 at halftime and then outscored Mines 22-14 in the third quarter. When Pinto cut the FLC lead down to 52-48 with five minutes to play, it was FLC freshman forward Jordan Vasquez who came up with a big drive to the basket, and she finished going to her left with a tough layup to put FLC up 54-48. Then, Carter hit a key jump shot to make it 56-48 with 3:36 to play. Some Chandler free throws helped keep the game out of reach the rest of the way.
FLC will stay on the road for two more games with a regional rivalry trip to Gunnison and Grand Junction to play Western Colorado and Colorado Mesa, the first-place team in the RMAC, on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
“We’re gonna play two really good teams that are playing top-notch basketball,” Griego said. “We’re going to give it our best shot. Anytime you play against a good team, you have to elevate your play. I believe our girls will do that.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
