Moral victories aren’t an official stat in college basketball. But the Fort Lewis women’s basketball team put together of the Skyhawks’ better performances in recent memory in an 89-82 loss at Colorado School of Mines on Saturday night.
Fort Lewis fell to 12-16 overall and 9-13 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference after it shot 40% from the field, 25% from the 3-point line and 74% from the free-throw line in the loss.
The 82 points for the Skyhawks were the most they’ve scored since their 85-40 win over Lincoln on Nov. 27.
“We definitely fought the whole 40 minutes and it was a nail-biter,” Fort Lewis associate head coach Kylie Lorenzen said. “A lot of our girls stood out and we had each other's back. It was a fun game to coach in and to be part of. The girls had a good time and it was our last game so our players left everything on the court.”
Colorado School of Mines improved to 21-7 overall and 16-6 in the RMAC after it shot 41% from the field, 33% from 3-point range and 82% from the free-throw line in the win.
Both teams drew a ton of fouls. Fort Lewis finished 31-42 from the line and Colorado School of Mines finished 31-38 from the line.
“The refs called it both ways,” Lorenzen said. “I think there's some times where they called silly ones, but I think they called it pretty balanced between both teams and it fired our girls up. I don't think anyone got down on each other or on themselves and it was more motivating.”
Sophomore guard Lanae Billy finished with 20 points on 7-17 from the field and 2-10 from 3-point range and 4-4 from the free-throw line. Sophomore forward Kate Gallery had one of her best games as a Skyhawk in the season finale. Gallery also finished with 20 points, a career-high for her, on 7-17 shooting from the field, 2-10 from the 3-point line and 7-8 from the free-throw line.
Senior forward Kelsey Sorenson finished her Skyhawks career with 18 points on 7-10 shooting from the field and 4-8 from the free-throw line along with seven rebounds. Junior guard Sadie Misner had a career-high 15 points as well.
Colorado School of Mines was led by Ashley Steffeck’s 26 points after she shot 5-20 from the field, 3-13 from 3-point range and 13-15 from the free-throw line. Jessica Rios had 13 points as well for the Orediggers.
Fort Lewis out-rebounded Colorado School of Mines 40-39. It was the first time the Skyhawks had out-rebounded their opponent since they played Lincoln on Nov. 28.
It was a close-fought battle early on with the game tied at 17 after the first quarter. Both teams struggled to be efficient in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, both teams stepped up their scoring. Fort Lewis shot 50% from the field in the second quarter but trailed 44-35 at half in part because the Orediggers were able to get to the free-throw line 16 times and made 14 of them. Colorado School of Mines also shot 46% from the field and 50% from the 3-point line.
Even though Fort Lewis wasn’t efficient in the third quarter, it still outscored Colorado School of Mines 19-14 in the fourth as the Skyhawks went 9-12 from the line in the third to cut the Orediggers lead to 58-54 after three quarters.
The fourth quarter was full of offense but the Skyhawks couldn’t get the stops to get the win. Fort Lewis shot 46% from the field and Colorado School of Mines shot 47% from the field. A Kate Gallery 3-pointer cut the deficit to 82-80 with a minute left but the Orediggers finished the game on a 7-2 run.
Fort Lewis finished its season with its most wins since 2019-2020 despite losing eight of its last nine games.
“It was such a special group,” Lorenzen said. “We had our two seniors, Kelsey and Ember and they really led the program with Coach Taylor (Harris) three years ago when he came here. They really rebuilt it to be more than just the basketball program and really a loving program and really became a family. They welcomed me with open arms and the girls that Coach Taylor and I have brought in are a perfect fit for our program and it's really loving and very special.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
