Patience is a virtue, and so is bench scoring. Both were the case for the Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team Friday night, as the Skyhawks beat the Western New Mexico Mustangs 92-68 in a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference showdown at Whalen Gymnasium.
The Skyhawks proved to have a much deeper bench than the Mustangs, outscoring them 54-20.
“It’s been like that the past few weeks on our bench,” said Fort Lewis head coach Jason Flores. “The last couple of weeks our bench has outscored our starters, and that’s a great thing to be able to go to. They’ve given us a lot of good basketball.”
The Skyhawks (10-7, 7-5 RMAC) went back-and-forth with the Mustangs (6-11, 4-7 RMAC) to start the game. Fort Lewis played an aggressive offensively, which led to plenty of free-throw opportunities. Fort Lewis started cold from the line going 4-for-10, but the Skyhawks proved patient and ended the game at nearly 70 percent from the charity stripe.
Fort Lewis sophomore guard Dallas Dickerson led the Skyhawks with 15 points by going 3-for-3 from the 3-point line.
“My team was able to set some really good screens and we were able to move the ball, which is something we’ve been working at in practice,” Dickerson said. “For me to be able to come off those screens, it showed just how good my teammates know me. We were able to capitalize on it.”
The Skyhawks are at a midway point in their season, so putting up 92 points against a conference foe was important.
“This feels great,” Dickerson said. “Everybody’s attitude in the locker room is just way different.”
Even though Fort Lewis was clicking offensively, the defense let Western New Mexico hang around at certain points of the game. My’Kale French led the Mustangs with a game-high 17 points.
Along with dominating the bench scoring, Fort Lewis also won the rebounding battle 43-35. At only 5-foot-7, Fort Lewis true freshman guard Sydni Brandon led all rebounders with 10. Brandon showed her versatility and athleticism all night. She was all over the court, grabbing rebounds, making steals and pushing the momentum. She brought a type of energy that kept the game in Fort Lewis’ favor and also finished the game with four assists and two steals while contributing three points.
The up-tempo game is the style Flores likes to play, and Friday night was no different. The up-pace style threw the Mustangs off offensively. Western New Mexico shot only 2-for-11 from 3-point land. More importantly for Fort Lewis, the Skyhawks shot 56 percent from both the field and 3-point land. To go along with such hot shooting, the Skyhawks had 22 assists
“When we had 20-plus assists, then I know we had a good game offensively. That shows that we shared the ball and that we were unselfish and multiple people scored and that makes it fun,” Flores said.
Astrea Reed finished with 10 points, and Alyssa Yocky had 11 points for FLC. Kate Bayes had six points, six rebounds and four assists, Mary Rambo had five points and five rebounds in her return after missing last weekend with a concussion. Ande Lampert also had seven points and five rebounds.
Fort Lewis will return to action at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Whalen Gymnasium against another RMAC foe in New Mexico Highlands (2-14, 0-11 RMAC).
jmentzer@durangoherald.com
