The Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team is off and running in the right direction.
After back-to-back days on the road to open the season, the Skyhawks are a perfect 2-0 as FLC beat Eastern New Mexico 73-69 on Saturday.
Kaitlyn Romero led Fort Lewis with 15 points on a sizzling 5-for-6 from 3-point range. Briana Clah and Alyssa Yocky each added nine and were among eight Fort Lewis players with five or more points.
“These two games have been all we can ask for early in the season,” Fort Lewis head coach Jason Flores said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “The girls were thrown in the fire right off the bat and I’m proud of how they’ve come together. They took the momentum from last night and beat a really talented team (Saturday).”
Just like Friday’s comeback win against Texas-Permian Basin, FLC trailed early, but slowly picked up the pace to grab a 35-31 halftime lead.
Romero, a true freshman, caught fire in the second half making all three attempts from long range and leading FLC to a double-digit lead.
“Kaitlyn caught fire and we were getting contributions from all over the place,” Flores said. “It was nice to get deep into our bench and still get results, especially in a tough environment against a team like Eastern New Mexico.”
The Greyhounds (1-1) made a late push and cut the deficit to three in the final minute, but a Herrera free throw sealed the win for Fort Lewis.
FLC finished the game shooting 53 percent from behind the 3-point stripe and 76 percent from the foul line.
Ande Lampert had eight points for the Skyhawks. Shelby Patterson and Natalie Stilwell each had six points and Yocky led the team with six rebounds.
The Skyhawks will try to make it three in a row at 5 p.m., Monday against Western New Mexico.
jfries@durangoherald.com
