It may have been a season-opening exhibition, but the Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team was in fine form.
The Skyhawks traveled Thursday to Provo, Utah, to face Brigham Young University and hung tough all four quarters against the Cougars before falling 77-67. Women’s basketball has changed from playing two halves to four quarters this season, among many other rules changes.
“We schedule these games because we want to play really good teams,” FLC head coach Jason Flores said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “BYU was a Sweet 16 team last year and have their two best players back. They’re always top two in their conference and in the Division I national tournament, and we enjoyed playing this level of competition.”
The Skyhawks didn’t just play, they competed. Kate Bayes led the team with 14 points and four rebounds, and transfer guard Astera Reed blended in nicely with 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting. She also had three rebounds and three assists.
“We recruited her out of high school and tried to get her the first time around,” Flores said of Reed, who transferred from Grand Canyon University. “She’s going to have a good impact on our team without a doubt. She brings a good punch and can play any guard position.”
Mary Rambo, formerly Mary Brinton, had eight points and four rebounds for the Skyhawks.
BYU’s Makenzi Pulsipher scored a game-high 17 points and was 10-of-10 at the free-throw line. Lexi Rydalch scored 15 points and snagged a game-high eight rebounds.
Both teams had 19 turnovers.
“The turnovers were momentum plays for them more than us,” Flores said. “Their pressure led to turnovers for us, and they got some and-ones and offensive rebounds out of transition. They were long, athletic and strong, so we needed to do a better job taking care of the ball.
“Other than that, we battled and did a lot of good things we can take moving forward. To come in here and play them within 10 points, a lot of D1 teams don’t do that.”
FLC gets no reprieve, as it will face Utah in another exhibition Friday.
“Now we go up to the Pac-12,” Flores joked. “That’s alright. We play back-to-back during conference games, and we came here to better ourselves. We will scrap. With all the resources these schools have, we have no business with them, but so far we’re showing to be a good battling group.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
