The Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team put up a defensive performance for the ages in Friday’s win against Western State.
Not only did the Skyhawks shut out the Mountaineers for the entire second quarter, but Fort Lewis (17-6, 12-6 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) held the struggling Western State squad scoreless for a demoralizing 15 minutes and 25 seconds from late in the first quarter to midway through the third. The smothering stretch of play was all the Skyhawks needed to pull away en route to a 67-36 win.
Briana Clah led the way with 19 points. Alyssa Yocky was one rebound shy of another double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds, and Natalie Stilwell added 10 points off the bench and tied Ande Lampert with a game-high four blocked shots.
“We just got locked in. I don’t know how else to describe it,” Fort Lewis head coach Jason Flores said. “We got in a rhythm on defense and we knew what they wanted to do. I didn’t realize what was going on. I just knew we were getting a lot of stops.”
Through the first 10 minutes, nobody could have guessed what was coming, as Fort Lewis led by a slim 16-13 margin. Twenty-five unanswered points and 15 minutes later, Western State (5-17, 4-14 RMAC) was down 41-13 after a miserable 0-for-10 goose egg in a second quarter that made up a big chunk of the Mountaineers’ unfortunate drought.
They went without a field goal for 18:40 as the Skyhawks took complete command. The defense continued to get stops and finished the night holding Western State to just 20 percent shooting and forced 27 turnovers. Much of the credit for the impressive defensive performance goes to Lampert and Stilwell down low.
“Those two kind of feed off each other, and we all work to make each other better,” Yocky said of her fellow interior Skyhawk. “I feel like we play so much better when they’re active down there. Really, it all starts with them.”
Fort Lewis, currently in fifth place, will try to make it two wins in a row at 5:30 p.m. Saturday against the RMAC’s second-place team, Colorado Mesa (17-5, 14-4 RMAC).
jfries@durangoherald.com
