The Skyhawks used a big second quarter to make a statement Saturday night against the Colorado Christian Cougars.
Fort Lewis College’s women’s basketball team (6-2, 2-1 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) outscored Colorado Christian (4-3, 1-2 RMAC) 22-10 in the second quarter to put the Cougars in a hole at halftime en route to a 64-50 win.
The Skyhawks dropped 57-56 a heartbreaker the previous night to Colorado Mines.
“This feels great; (Friday night) was a very frustrating loss for us,” Fort Lewis senior guard Kate Bayes said. “We didn’t play as we’d like to as a team, and I think that’s the worst way to lose. It was great to come out (Saturday night) and fight back and get the whole team involved. The best part was the energy and the defense that we brought.”
Fort Lewis got a 10-point offensive explosion from Bayes in the third quarter. She finished with a game-high 19 points on 7-for-9 shooting while also going 5-for-6 from the free throw line.
Colorado Christian used a 3-2 zone scheme on defense, and the more the Cougars tried to throw the Skyhawks off, the more FLC became comfortable with penetrating inside.
“They have a 3-2 that will extend out a little bit,” Fort Lewis head coach Jason Flores said. “You don’t run into many teams that are strictly zone teams. It took us a little bit in the first quarter to kind of get used to (the zone). I thought we did a great job attacking it in the second quarter, which set the stage for the rest of the game.”
FLC guard Astrea Reed finished the game with 16 points on 6-for-15 shooting. She also contributed five assists. Both Bayes and Reed were able to do what they wanted for most of the night on offense.
“That’s how we matched up against their zone,” Bayes said. “Astrea and I are attacking players, and their zone is exactly what I want to see. On offense we attacked the gaps. We have a lot of girls on this team that can space the floor for us, which is nice to go in the middle and know that you can kick it outside to a teammate who can hit that shot.”
Reed started the night going 3-for-5 for eight points in the first quarter. Colorado Christian’s Claire Paxton’s range from the top of the key gave FLC problems at first.
Flores adjusted his defense against Paxton in the second quarter, and that made all the difference. FLC beat Colorado Christian from multiple areas and didn’t give space to Paxton, which caused turnovers and created fast breaks. By game’s end, FLC outscored Colorado Christian 18-4 on fast-break points.
“That’s what I’m most happy with, to hold them to 50 points,” Flores said. “Claire is an unbelievable player, and what’s important with her is that you have to crowd her and get her off her spot.”
FLC ended the second quarter on a 12-1 run which spilled over into the third quarter where Bayes and Reed took over. According to Reed, the Colorado Christian zone defense played far out, which gave FLC players the ability to get behind the defense and open the middle. Once the middle would be open, the Cougars’ defense would instantly collapse which would then open the weak side for an open shot.
Both Bayes and Reed capitalized on being able to penetrate and kick out a pass for the open look. Dallas Dickerson was the recipient of many of those passes. Dickerson finished with eight points on 4-for-13 shooting.
FLC also caused problems for Colorado Christian guards. FLC forced 17 Cougar turnovers while racking up 12 steals. In the post, Mary Rambo was a force on defense for FLC. She finished with seven rebounds and four steals.
“I think we read the passing lanes a lot better and we made it difficult to make good passes,” Reed said.
Next up for FLC is a road trip to Colorado State-Pueblo at 5:30 p.m. Friday in Pueblo. CSU-Pueblo is 8-1 overall and 3-0 in conference and look to be FLC’s biggest test so far.
“We have a huge game coming up that will have a lot of meaning long term and short term,” Flores said. “This will be our focus from here on out. We have had a few tough challenges and have risen to the occasion, and I hope we bring that. We had to get this win (Saturday) night to keep us right in the mix in the conference and the region.”
jmentzer@durangoherald.com
