There are many tough ways to lose a basketball game, but Friday’s matchup between Fort Lewis College and Black Hills State women was unusual.
The Skyhawks held a six-point advantage at halftime, but a second half that started with the wrong basketball and ended with a questionable, game-deciding foul call amounted to a tough-to-swallow 53-52 FLC loss.
Kassidy Scott’s free throw broke the tie with 4 seconds on the clock, and Fort Lewis couldn’t get a call on the offensive end, as Black Hills State ground out a one-point win.
Briana Clah and Kayla Herrera led FLC with 12 points. Herrera also had 11 rebounds to complete the double-double. The Skyhawks committed 21 turnovers in the loss and shot a dismal 22 percent in the final quarter.
“It was just a frustrating game in a lot of ways,” Fort Lewis head coach Jason Flores said. “The foul at the end looked like they were both battling for position. It was frustrating all night.”
The teams exchanged the lead down the stretch, and Clah’s layup tied the game at 52 with 15 seconds left. But with time ticking down and the Yellow Jackets desperately trying to get an open look, Clah was seemingly pushed to the ground and held there, but the referee called her for the foul.
“We were fighting for position and she kind of took my leg out,” Clah said. “I went down and I guess he thought I had grabbed her while I was trying to get up.”
FLC (12-4, 7-4 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) had a chance to win in the final seconds, but the foul at the other end wasn’t called when Kaitlyn Romero drew contact in the lane but couldn’t get the shot to fall.
Though the calls down the stretch were tough to stomach, so was the offensive efficiency for FLC. After a scoreless 2 minutes, 30 seconds to start the game, Fort Lewis was the first team to find its rhythm, and Herrera was the spark.
FLC scored the game’s first eight points, five of which came off the hands of Herrera.
The Yellow Jackets (5-10, 5-6 RMAC) got their feet back under them in a hurry behind a tricky half-court trap that took the Skyhawks a bit of time to navigate.
The defense sparked a 16-6 Black Hills State run that gave them a three-point lead after being held scoreless for the game’s first 3:30.
FLC led by six to start the second half, but, this time, the teams had a legitimate excuse for another slow start. After 5 minutes of airballs and other sloppy offensive play, the officials realized the second half was being played with a men’s basketball, which as a roughly 2 centimeter larger circumference.
“There were two balls at the scorer’s table to start the second half, and they were both men’s,” Flores said. “I saw three airballs and the players felt like something wasn’t right. When they checked, sure enough, it was the wrong ball. What can you say?”
Though the correct ball was put into play, the game was clearly affected by the gaffe. FLC was 2-for-13 from the field in the third quarter and the teams were a combined 2-for-14 with the wrong basketball.
The new ball didn’t help FLC much, as the Skyhawks shot 22 percent in the fourth quarter and turned the ball over often in the final minutes with the Yellow Jackets’ swarming defense to blame.
“Fort Lewis is a smart and savvy team, so I’m so proud of the girls to have fought for this win,” Black Hills State coach Mike Nore said. “We had a chance to beat CSU-Pueblo last weekend and missed some big free throws down the stretch. We made the plays when it counted this time and came up big defensively. I’m so proud.”
Black Hills State’s Rachel Erickson led all scorers with 15 points. Fort Lewis will try to get back in the win column Saturday at 5:30 p.m. against South Dakota Mines.
jfries@durangoherald.com
