Fort Lewis went on the road as the last seed in the tournament and beat the No. 1 team on its home floor. Then it traveled again and knocked off another powerhouse only 40 miles from its hometown. Saturday’s task of beating the No. 2 team on its home floor was the only thing standing between the Skyhawks and an NCAA Tournament bid.
Not that the Skyhawks’ chance is completely over.
The Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team simply couldn’t scrape past the second-seeded Colorado State University-Pueblo ThunderWolves in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout championship game Saturday night in Pueblo’s Massari Arena. After making history by becoming the first eight-seed to ever reach the RMAC Shootout title game, the Cinderella Skyhawks came up short in a 72-61 loss to the ThunderWolves.
“You can’t fault our effort and intensity,” FLC head coach Jason Flores said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “I am proud to coach this team, and I’m hoping we’re not done.”
FLC could’ve earned an automatic bid into the NCAA Division II South Central Region tournament next week by winning the conference tournament. Instead, the Skyhawks, with a 19-11 overall record, will have to hope for an at-large bid when the selections are made Sunday night.
After scoring 20-plus points in the two wins against No. 1 Colorado Mines and No. 5 UC-Colorado Springs this week, FLC guard Astrea Reed was limited to 13 points and four rebounds. FLC senior Kate Bayes led the team with 14 points and five rebounds.
FLC freshman Alyssa Yocky was held scoreless one night after recording a double-double. Dallas Dickerson, who averages double-digits, was held to eight points and turned the ball over five times.
It was FLC’s third loss of the season to CSU-Pueblo, and the Skyhawks have never beat the ThunderWolves (26-5) in RMAC tournament play.
“They’re really well-rounded,” Flores said of the ThunderWolves team coached by Jim Turgeon. “They’re good defensively and have a lot of experience. You can’t focus on one thing against them, because they have good shooters, drivers and strong posts. They spread you thin.”
It was two big 3-pointers by CSU-Pueblo players who aren’t traditionally great shooters that did the Skyhawks in late in the fourth quarter. FLC trailed 49-45 entering the final 10 minutes of play but quickly went down by nine. Still, the Skyhawks battled back to trim the deficit to 58-55 with 3:30 to go. But tired legs and big CSU-Pueblo baskets were too much to overcome.
“They had a couple of non-3-point shooters hit two really big 3s, and that really hurt us,” Flores said. “We were going to live and die with those two shooting. Kudos to them for hitting those shots.”
Ashley Piper was strong inside for the ThunderWolves with 14 points and nine rebounds, and she made 5-of-6 free throws. Dee Arrieta was cold most of the night but came on strong late with 12 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the foul line. She also had two big steals. Center Molly Rohrer also got it going late with nine points and nine rebounds to go with five assists and two blocked shots.
Off the bench, Angie Moore chipped in 12 points for CSU-Pueblo.
A key stat was free-throw shooting, as CSU-Pueblo went 26-of-29 while FLC went 11-of-14. The Skyhawks were held to only two free throw attempts in the first half.
“That’s a tough stat to overcome,” Flores said. “Some of those are frustrating.”
The RMAC was the best conference in the South Central Region this year, and Flores hopes four RMAC teams make the tournament. He said he will prepare as if his team will have a game to play next week, even though nothing is certain.
“We have 19 region wins, and that’s why I think we have a chance to get in,” he said. “We have more region wins than teams in front of us that play NAIA teams. Our strength of schedule was tougher. If we don’t get in, it will be a tough pill to swallow. We have a tough team and want to keep playing.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
