The last two seasons haven’t been easy for the Fort Lewis women’s basketball team. As the men’s team have flourished with a combined 48 wins during that same time span, the women’s squad has been in the middle of a rebuild.
During coach Taylor Harris’ first year in 2021-2022, the Skyhawks went 2-25, which made the team’s NCAA Division II title game appearance in 2010 seem like ancient history. But Fort Lewis is gradually improving, posting a 9-19 record last season.
He said the first year was about establishing the team culture and “starting anew,” while the second year was about “establishing who wants to be here and who fits into what we're doing.”
Entering the third year, Fort Lewis has “everybody that wants to be here and wants to be a part of this program,” Harris said.
Harris believes his team will need 15-16 wins this season to achieve his next goal of securing the Skyhawks’ first RMAC tournament berth since 2018.
“Then our goal next year is to compete to make the NCAA tournament,” he said.
The Skyhawks return seven players from last season’s roster, including their top three scorers.
One of those top three scorers is sophomore guard Lanae Billy, who led Fort Lewis in scoring with 16 points per game, shooting 41% from the field and 39% from 3-point range. She also led the Skyhawks with 58 total steals.
“She's one of those players that can really create her own shot without needing a lot of space, and that's a pretty unique weapon for us to have,” Harris said. “We feel like she's the best shooter in the country. She's the leading 3-point shooter in the RMAC and she's a high-level 3-point shooter, especially for someone who came in as a freshman and was able to score like she did.”
Senior forward and second-leading scorer Kelsey Sorenson is also back, as is junior guard and third-leading scorer Avery Evans. Sorenson, who averaged 12.7 points a game last year, was the only other player who averaged double-digits on the scoring end aside from Billy. Evans averaged 8.8 points a game last season.
Harris said both Evans and Sorenson have worked on improving their 3-point shots, as well taking the ball up the court. Three-point shooting was one of the Skyhawks’ strengths last season, as they ranked 122nd in the country shooting 31% from downtown.
Fort Lewis’ offense, which averaged 61.5 points a game last season, should improve because at any given time, four to five players can bring the ball up, compared to last year when only one or two players could do so, according to Harris.
The Skyhawks also brought in some accomplished transfers. Redshirt junior forward Lilly Pepper averaged 13.1 points per game and 8.9 rebounds per game in her time at NCAA DIII Illinois College, while junior guard Luisa Chavez averaged 13.3 points a game and 6.7 rebounds a game at Pima Community College. Harris expects junior guard Sydney Bevington to have a good year after transferring from Idaho State University.
Pepper and Chavez should help with one of Fort Lewis’ biggest struggles from last season: rebounding. The Skyhawks ranked 244th in the country in rebounding last season.
“If we're being transparent, with how we're playing defense, we're going to get out-rebounded a lot,” Harris said. “Because of our zone, it's just going to happen. But we're hoping that we can make up for that by creating more turnovers.”
Harris said the team will run mostly 2-3 zone after running numerous types of defenses last year, which resulted in the team allowing 70 points a game, which was ranked 247th nationwide.
The inspiration for his zone comes from Syracuse men’s basketball’s legendary 2-3 zone, as well as the zone defense Merrimack College’s men’s basketball program has been playing lately.
Last season, Fort Lewis struggled down the stretch, losing its last five games. Harris hopes the team’s offensive versatility will stop that from happening again.
“Last year, we demanded so much from Renee and Kelsey, but this year, Avery Evans has stepped up in a big scoring role,” Harris said. “Sydney Bennington, our transfer from Idaho State is helping us with a big scoring role. Then coming off the bench Lilly (Pepper), Louisa (Chavez), Kate Galerie, like we just have more weapons, scoring the ball. If you're scoring, it's a lot easier to have a sense of urgency defensively.”
With the versatility, Harris thinks a 50-75% increase in assists per game could happen after the Skyhawks were dead last in the country in assists last season. But Fort Lewis will continue to play an isolation-heavy style of offense with ball screens and an emphasis on taking advantage of matchups.
Harris and the Skyhawks hope this style will lead to meaningful matchups in March.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
