The conference tournament was supposed to be a showcase of the region’s top-ranked teams. Fort Lewis College crashed the party.
After knocking off No. 25 and top-seed Colorado Mines in the opening round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout, the eighth-seeded Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team turned its focus to No. 5 UC-Colorado Springs and the league’s best player in Brittany Hernandez.
The underdog Skyhawks used a 23-6 second quarter to set the tone for the game and held off a feisty Mountain Lions attack in the fourth quarter to secure yet another stunning upset Friday night in Pueblo, where they knocked off UCCS with a 79-70 victory.
“A ton of heart and resolve,” FLC head coach Jason Flores said of his team’s performance. “We locked in defensively and played aggressive and unselfish on offense. To do that to that team, I was impressed just watching our players.”
FLC has now won 11 of its last 14 games and will face host No. 2 CSU-Pueblo in the championship game. An eight-seed has never reached the tournament championship until now.
Friday’s game was largely decided in the second quarter, and the Skyhawks carried a 59-44 lead going into the final 10 minutes of play. But the full-court press defense of the Mountain Lions began to give FLC problems.
But, behind the strong leadership of junior guard Astrea Reed and the clutch play of freshman forward Alysaa Yocky, the Skyhawks held on. Reed finished with a game-high 26 points to top her previous career high of 24 set Tuesday night in the win at Colorado Mines. Reed also had nine rebounds.
“She’s shooting a decent percentage and not forcing the action,” Flores said of Reed. “She’s aggressive at the right time.”
Yocky handled everything Hernandez threw at her and finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds. She also went 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.
“She’s not a freshman anymore,” Flores said. “She is a calm and collected kid. She went up there to the line, and it wasn’t close. I don’t know if any of her free throws even hit the rim.”
The entire FLC team went to work down low on Hernandez, who still finished with a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds. But the RMAC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year was frustrated most of the night, as FLC crashed on her down low and made everything difficult.
“For us, not having Mary (Rambo) and getting the rest of our post players to step up, it’s exciting to see,” Flores said. “Our plan was to make (Hernandez) catch it in spots where we had help. We were digging and recovering and crowding her as much as possible.”
FLC senior Kylie Santos added another 12 points for FLC. Tori Fisher added 20 points and seven rebounds for the Mountain Lions.
The Skyhawks went 19-of-21 from the free-throw line, while UCCS went 12-of-18.
A win Saturday night will guarantee Fort Lewis a place in the NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament, but two impressive wins this weekend could also sneak FLC into the top eight in the regional standings to earn a spot.
Either way, the Skyahwks know what’s on the line against a ThunderWolves team that reached the RMAC Shootout championship with a 68-54 win against No. 6 Colorado Christian.
“We’ve known what’s at stake the last two games. We’re just on a roll right now,” Flores said. “The team is playing for each other and don’t want the season to end. Each game you advance, the pressure gets bigger and bigger, but we’re locked in right now. Win or lose, we’ll see what happens, but I know we will have another good effort.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
