The Fort Lewis women’s basketball team looks to keep improving entering the 2023-24 season, and things couldn’t have started off better for the Skyhawks during exhibition play earlier this week.
Fort Lewis beat NCAA Division I Utah State University, 70-69, on Monday. It was the Skyhawks’ first victory against a Division I opponent since Taylor Harris took over as head coach in 2021.
“I'm really proud and happy of how hard we played and we had a sense of urgency right from the start of the game,” Harris said. “That's what helps us, we have so many returners. We return three starters and a majority of the team that were that has been there for Utah State the past two years. So the moment of being in that gym wasn't too big for us. We were ready for it. And we just played extremely hard and it was really fun.”
Harris also said he received texts from other Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference coaches congratulating him and the team on the win.
Senior forward Kelsey Sorenson led the way against Utah State with 23 points shooting 6 of 16 from the field and 10 of 14 from the free-throw line. Sorenson also had eight rebounds, six steals and four blocks.
Although Fort Lewis lost 77-62 to Division I Weber State University on Tuesday, sophomore guard Lanae Billy had a strong performance with 24 points on 8 of 16 shooting overall, including 6 of 10 from 3-point range.
“It is really cool because Monday was Kelsey’s day and Lanae hit a lot of big shots, but then Tuesday was Lanae’s day,” Harris said. “For us, that's going to be the key to our success. We can't rely on just one person. We have three to four girls that can have 20-plus (point) games a night and that's what was really cool about that.”
Harris also said he was happy the team could play in a big environment at Utah State with a student section cheering against them. The squad never had a letdown moment against Utah State, according to Harris.
The Skyhawks play their final exhibition on Saturday at 5 p.m. against Haskell Indian Nations University, a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics squad, at Sun Ute Community Center in Ignacio.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
