Fort Lewis College women’s basketball coach Jason Flores didn’t impart any great coaching brilliance after calling time out with his team trailing Northern New Mexico 4-3 very early.
He wanted his team to pick up its intensity after a vanilla first few minutes.
The Skyhawks responded for a 101-62 win, shooting 51.4 percent from the field and 48 percent from beyond the 3-point line.
“Sometimes games like this, they could be a trap game,” Flores said. “We needed to focus on what we needed to do better.”
FLC (1-0) turned the ball over on two of its first three possessions before the time out, then ripped off 14 of the next 16 points to take a 17-6 lead.
The Skyhawks advantage continued to grow.
They led 47-31 at the half but shot 53.8 percent from the field after halftime, pouring in 54 points after the break.
“We were all trying to work together as a team and find the best possible shot that came our way,” senior forward Christie Groh said. “We looked inside; we looked to drive. I mean, you always look to attack on offense.”
Groh led the team with 20 points and made 7-of-12 shots from the floor, including 3-of-4 from three-point range.
The Skyhawks had six players in double figures, including Nebraska-Omaha transfer Kate Bayes’ 17 in her first game as a Skyhawk.
Near the end of the game, it became a matter of “when” FLC’s score would reach triple digits, not if.
Ashley Kuchar made a three-pointer with 1 minute, 44 seconds remaining to push the Skyhawks over the century mark.
“It’s always satisfying beating somebody by a lot, no matter who that is,” Groh said. “The point is winning, and how you do it is how you do it.”
It was the first time FLC scored more than 100 points since Oct. 27, 2011, in an exhibition game against Lamar Community College and first time in the regular season since 2009, also against Northern New Mexico.
Saturday night’s output tied for the ninth hightest scoring game in FLC history.
Despite the gaudy offensive total, the team still is trying to gel offensively.
FLC turned the ball over 15 times and only shot 68.2 percent from the free throw line.
“We haven’t scratched the surface yet of playing with each other and getting into a really good rhythm,” Flores said. “If we continue to get better, we have a lot of good pieces we’re excited about.”
The Skyhawks won’t have very much time for that gel to settle.
Their next game is Friday in Stephenville, Texas against Tarleton State, which made the NCAA Tournament last season. They’ll also play Texas Woman’s University the following day.
Both teams play in the South Central Region with FLC.
“We can’t get those teams to play us here,” Flores said. “But we will go down there. Right off the bat it sets the tone for our season.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
