It is about ending the season on a high note Friday for the Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team.
The Skyhawks have a chance to win their fourth out of their final five games when they host Adams State University at 5:30 p.m. Friday inside Whalen Gymnasium. Both teams will play for pride after already being eliminated from Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference postseason play.
“I just want us to play our hearts out,” FLC head coach Jason Flores said. “That’s what we did last Saturday at Western. To win four of five coming down the stretch with the injuries and everything we’ve had shows the kids care and they want to end the right way.
“We have a lot of pride in our program. Both our programs, the men and women, have tons of pride and it matters to us. It matters that we represent Fort Lewis and Durango. We have a bigger responsibility than I think some places have that might not care as much about the team.”
Even in a down year, the FLC women (12-15, 8-13 RMAC) rank fourth in the conference in attendance with an average of 645 fans per game. The Skyhawks hope to see one more good crowd to send off their seniors, led by Alyssa Yocky.
“Alyssa, what she has done in four years at Fort Lewis is amazing, basketball included,” Flores said. “But, more than that, the impact she’s had at this college is profound, and she should be celebrated. She is the definition of student athlete.”
Yocky, the student body vice president, has led FLC with 11.2 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game this season. Her rebounds rank third in the RMAC, and she has twice been named the RMAC Defensive Player of the Week.
“It means the world to me,” Yocky said of playing one more home game. “It’s one last time for me to step on the court with my teammates and play in front of the fans and community that has supported me for the past four years. It’s going to be a wide range of emotions. It’s going to be bittersweet.”
FLC senior MorningRose Tobey transferred to FLC from the University of Nevada for her senior season. She has averaged 2.8 points and 1.2 rebounds per game in 20 games played.
While Kelsey Wainright won’t take part in the senior-day celebration, she’s had a six-year career with the Skyhawks worthy of fan support. After she battled injuries a year ago, Wainright tried to return for one more season but played in only five games before she shut it down. She played 62 games in an FLC uniform with 22 starts. While she has battled the injury, she has played an integral role on the FLC bench.
“She’s been in a (graduate assistant) coaching position with us helping us with coaching, scouting, recruiting. She’s fully involved,” Flores said. “Six years is a long time. For her, it was unfulfilled potential of what could have been because of the injuries, and that’s hard. But she’s learned a lot of life lessons from it. One way or another, whether she plays or is coaching, having her around the last six years and has been enjoyable for me.”
Back on Dec. 1, FLC fell 65-63 to Adams State (2-23, 2-19 RMAC) in Alamosa in a poor shooting performance for both teams. Stephanie Ruiz led the Grizzlies with 22 points and eight rebounds. She has averaged 11.7 points per game this year to lead the team.
The Skyhawks will look for solid play from Tobey and Yocky to go along with plenty of youth with sophomores Sydney Candelaria and Jordan Carter as well as freshmen Tanisha Begay and Hanna Valencia.
“It seems like a year ago that we played Adams,” Flores said. “We’ve gone through a lot. For us, it’s not about that we lost to this team and we want to get that back; it’s that we want to end on a high note.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
