Since falling 58-48 to the Skyhawks on New Year’s Eve, the Regis University women’s basketball team has won three consecutive games and climbed into the national rankings at No. 25.
Fort Lewis College aims to send the Rangers back out of the rankings with a season sweep Friday night, when FLC hosts Regis at 5:30 p.m. in a key Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference showdown.
“Our team is excited for Friday,” FLC head coach Jason Flores said. “They know Regis is good. We know we have to be sharp. And we know Regis is going to want to get some payback from that last game.”
FLC (13-4, 8-4 RMAC) won the rebounding battle in the previous matchup with Regis (13-2, 8-2 RMAC), as Rangers star center Kaylie Rader played only 11 minutes and went 1-of-7 shooting for only two points and five rebounds. She averages 8.9 rebounds and 7.7 rebounds per game. The Skyhawks also held Regis’ leading scorer Mary Sigler under her season average of 13.2 points per game.
“The loss hurt us,” Regis head coach Molly Marrin said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “Fort Lewis played really well, and we just came out pretty flat and very unlike us. We’ve been focusing on getting back to who we are, and that’s rebounding and taking pride in the hustle stats.”
FLC’s Briana Clah scored 22 points in the previous matchup, and Kayla Herrera had 16 points and eight rebounds. Alyssa Yocky added eight points and 13 rebounds.
Clah ranks fifth in the RMAC in scoring at 14.9 points per game, and Yocky is 11th at 13.1 points. Yocky has been an all-around force and ranks second in the RMAC in rebounding at nine per game.
What has made FLC so dangerous is the all-around scoring effort from a cast of players. The Skyhawks are 12th out of 15 teams in the league in 3-point shooting percentage at only 29.7 percent, but FLC is fifth in scoring offense at 67.1 points per game. The equations have been good ball movement and finding players for clean looks at the basket.
“It’s a fun and enjoyable group,” Flores said. “They’ve been in good spirits all year, and it’s business as usual for them.”
FLC senior forward Ande Lampert has the task of matching up with Rader, who had 22 points and 14 rebounds last time she was inside Whalen Gymnasium in 2016. Flores said the key is to control where Rader catches the ball in the paint and to force her out of a comfort zone.
Every team in the RMAC is looking up at No. 7 and undefeated CSU-Pueblo (18-0, 12-0 RMAC), but UC-Colorado Springs and Regis are tied for second place, with four teams within two games of second, including FLC.
That makes the final 10 games of the conference schedule exciting for all teams involved.
“Some teams are better matchups for each other, and some are worse,” Marrin said. “It’s coming down to those matchups here in the second half of RMAC play. For us, Fort Lewis is a tough matchup. Both teams are defensively oriented, tough and have scrappy guards.”
After Friday’s game with Regis, FLC will close out a four-game homestand Saturday at 5:30 p.m. against Chadron State.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
