The Fort Lewis College and CSU-Pueblo women’s basketball teams came into the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference league opener undefeated, but that was about all the two teams had in common Friday night.
The No. 12 ThunderWolves were nearly unstoppable in the opening minutes and led by as much as 37 points in the second half en route to a dominant 79-56 win. CSU-Pueblo had four players finish in double-figures, with Jaszymn Johnson’s 16 points leading the way. Lauren Heyn had 15 points, and Katie Cunningham pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds for the ThunderWolves.
“Total credit to them, they really shot the lights out,” Fort Lewis head coach Jason Flores said. “We needed to make it harder on them, but with Heyn and Johnson combining for 22 first-half points, that really deflated us.”
Limiting all-league sophomore Molly Rohrer and junior guard Tuileisu Anderson is enough of a hassle for CSU-Pueblo opponents, but they were the least of FLC’s worries in the first half.
Johnson and Heyn led an impressive offensive onslaught by the RMAC’s top team in the first 20 minutes. CSU-Pueblo (7-0, 1-0 RMAC) grabbed a big lead early, as a 10-0 run gave the visitors a double-digit first-quarter lead.
The advantage only grew wider from there.
Fort Lewis (4-1, 0-1 RMAC) went cold in the second quarter with 10 points, and the ThunderWolves were getting warm. CSU-Pueblo followed the 23-point opening frame by shooting 64 percent in the second. The ThunderWolves shot 7-for-11 from 3-point range in the first half while holding the Skyhawks to 31 percent from the field to grab a 21-point halftime lead and create a very steep climb back in the game for the Skyhawks.
“We kind of just traded baskets with them at the start, but we got really loose on defense,” Flores said. “Our calling card is toughness on defense and rebounding. We wanted to limit easy buckets in transition and minimize their success with offensive sets, but they were getting both.”
If Fort Lewis had any intentions of getting back in the game after halftime, hopes were quickly extinguished by a 7-0 CSU-Pueblo run to start the third quarter.
Eventually, the ThunderWolves’ lead swelled to 37, and time ticked away as the Fort Lewis’ first loss of the season became a reality.
Natalie Stilwell scored 11 points to lead FLC, and Ande Lampert added 10 and grabbed a team-high six rebounds in the loss. Despite being led offensively by their forwards, the Skyhawks were outscored in the paint 32-6.
“We just have to crowd those post players a bit better,” Lampert said. “They were getting a lot of space and that’s something we’ll have to do better with.”
Fort Lewis will try to turn it around at 5:30 p.m. Saturday against New Mexico Highlands.
jfries@durangoherald.com
