Jason Flores didn’t think his team played like itself for much of the game Friday night. He wasn’t happy with defense early or the Skyhawks’ half-court offense late.
Still, the Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team went into the locker room with a 28-27 lead at halftime. That lead quickly stretched to 34-28, as sophomore forward Jordan Carter went on her own 6-0 run to open the third quarter. Carter scored the first eight points for FLC in the second half, but FLC scored only 10 points in the quarter with the addition of a buzzer-beating two-pointer from Hanna Valencia, and the Skyhawks trailed 42-38 going to the fourth.
After FLC had cut the Colorado Christian lead to 46-42, the Cougars (10-12, 8-8 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) went on a 10-2 run to put the Skyhawks away, as they eventually won 59-48.
It was a tough way for the Skyhawks (9-13, 5-11 RMAC) to open a four-game homestand with slim hopes of making a run to get back into conference tournament contention.
“The whole game was tough to see,” Flores said. “We didn’t see this coming. We had a couple good practices leading up to it, spirits were good, people were playing hard, we had made a few strides, and so I really am at a loss for words on how we were so bad tonight.
“It’s one of those where you apologize to people for having to watch that performance. It’s embarrassing on our end as coaches that product was out there tonight because that just wasn’t us. We gotta figure out how to get better than that.”
FLC was clearly frustrated by a lack of foul calls under the basket all night. The Cougars were called for only five personal fouls through the first 30 minutes of play before being called for five in the fourth quarter.
The foul discrepancy wasn’t lopsided, though, as FLC committed 11 fouls to Colorado Christian’s 10. Still, the Skyhawks suffered from not getting calls under the hoop.
“You’re gonna get calls sometimes, sometimes you’re not,” Flores said. “That part is frustrating, but look at how many easy shots we missed where there wasn’t contact. Would a few of those helped and really cut it close, sure. Would that have fixed us defensively? Do we need to get a couple calls to be able to communicate and do the right things and be able to rebound? I don’t know why it makes a difference.”
Sydney Candelaria and Carter each had 10 points for the Skyhawks. Candelaria scored seven in the first quarter on 3-of-5 shooting but finished 4-of-10. Alyssa Yocky had seven points and 11 rebounds for FLC.
The Skyhawks had 18 turnovers, 13 of those steals for the Cougars. The Skyhawks also had only nine assists.
“It literally was like this was our first scrimmage of the year,” Flores said. “For us to have nine assists for the game, that tells you how bad we were offensively. I can’t remember the last time we had an under-10-assist game. It has to have been a long, long time.”
Jordan Baer had a huge game inside with 14 points and 14 rebounds, with four offensive boards. She also had five assists.
Sarah McGinley, who burned FLC for 27 points the last time the two teams played in Lakewood, was held to seven points, but she had four steals and four rebounds. Madison Price scored 12 points for the Cougars.
Flores said his team didn’t communicate well enough defensively and was surprised his team held the Cougars to 59 points.
The Skyhawks will host Regis (11-10, 7-9 RMAC) at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in the team’s whiteout game. Fans are asked to wear white, and the first 1,300 fans will receive a free white Skyhawks shirt.
“This was an off-night. I’ll throw the stats away and don’t even know if I’ll watch this game,” Flores said. “We will try to be better tomorrow for Regis.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
