One night after sputtering down the stretch and blowing a big lead at Colorado Christian, the Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team had a chance for redemption in another tight game late at Colorado School of Mines.
After staging a gritty comeback late in the game, the shorthanded and injury-riddled Skyhawks (8-6, 4-5 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) came up short Saturday night, losing to the Orediggers 65-63 in Golden. Courtney Martin’s layup caught every bit of the rim before falling through the net with eight seconds left to win the game for the Orediggers.
Fort Lewis’ Astrea Reed scored 18 points, and true freshman Sydni Brandon fought through an injury to post 11 points, five rebounds and three assists. Brandon’s last-second drive to the basket on Fort Lewis’ final possession drew a lot of contact but no whistle from the officials as the buzzer sounded.
“It’s a hard pill to swallow because I thought we did everything we could to win this game,” Fort Lewis head coach Jason Flores said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “There was a lot of contact under the basket at the end, and it was unfortunate that the officials swallowed the whistles on that possession after making a call at the other end that determined the outcome.”
Inside the five minute mark, the Skyhawks faced their biggest deficit of the game down 58-51. Unlike the previous night, Fort Lewis came alive in crunch time and went on a 12-3 run that gave them a 63-60 lead in the final minute.
On the next Orediggers possession, FLC’s Kate Bayes was whistled for a foul and a questionable technical foul was added on. Colorado Mines (11-2, 9-0 RMAC) made three of the four foul shots to tie the game.
The late break for the home team was particularly tough to handle for Fort Lewis because the Skyhawks had overcome a number of issues to hold a late lead.
Senior center Mary Rambo was knocked out of the game in the second quarter after taking an elbow to the face. She was held out of the game with a possible concussion, and the Orediggers took command down low. Without Rambo and backup center Ande Lampert, Fort Lewis was outrebounded 51-35.
However, the Skyhawks kept fighting and kept the score close throughout the contest. The largest lead for either side was seven, and the lead changed hands 17 times. The score was tied at halftime and tied again heading into the final quarter.
“I was proud at the way we just kept coming back, especially as banged up as we were,” Flores said. “We had no choice but to go small, and I was happy to see them fight through it. Their strengths are in the post and we were two post players down so the fight was there in us. It was a tough way to lose.”
Emily Bailey led the Orediggers with 19 points and seven rebounds. Cassidy Budge scored 11 for Colorado Mines and made three clutch 3-pointers in the second half. Mikaela Moore added seven points and corralled a game-high 12 rebounds.
The Skyhawks will be on the road again next weekend at 5:30 p.m. Friday in Grand Junction against Colorado Mesa and 5:30 p.m. Saturday in Salt Lake City against Westminster.
jfries@durangoherald.com
