The good news for Fort Lewis College women’s basketball was that it hung with the best team in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in Colorado Mesa in the Skyhawks’ 78-71 loss at home on Thursday night. The bad news was FLC couldn’t stop Olivia Reed Thyne.
Reed Thyne showed why she was the RMAC Player of the Year last year. She used her combination of size and skill to destroy any Skyhawk defender in the post. Reed Thyne finished with 34 points and 11 rebounds as she carried the Mavericks’ offense for most of the game.
“Losing never feels good, but like this loss compared to maybe a Highlands loss feels better,” FLC head coach Lauren Zuniga said. “Not so much because of the other team, because of the effort and what we did. So even things that maybe people who read this wouldn't know, like the way we run our scout or what sets we run, or schematic wise. We executed that so much better than we were against maybe some other teams we lost to.”
FLC fell to 6-17 overall and 3-12 in the RMAC despite shooting 46% from the field, 47% from 3-point range and 60% from the free-throw line in the loss. The Skyhawks have had their three best 3-point shooting games in the last three weeks. FLC has lost 13 of its last 15 games against Division II opponents.
Junior guard Deniece Ryan led the Skyhawks with 16 points on 7-10 shooting from the field and 2-3 from downtown in only 20 minutes after fouling out. Zuniga said she was happy with how Ryan played and how aggressive she was defensively despite fouling out.
Senior guard Olivia Knapp had 15 points on 6-14 shooting from the field, 1-3 from 3-point range and 2-3 from the free-throw line.
Colorado Mesa improved to 18-4 and 13-2 in the RMAC after it shot 47% from the field, 43% from 3-point range and 82% from the free-throw line; Colorado Mesa shot 23 more free throws than FLC. The Mavericks have won 11 consecutive games.
Reed Thyne finished 15-26 from the field and 4-5 from the free-throw line. Kylie Kravig added 14 points on 3-9 shooting from the field, 0-1 from 3-point range and 8-10 from the free-throw line.
Sophomore guard and former Durango star Mason Rowland missed the opportunity to play in Durango. She tore her ACL in November.
Colorado Mesa got off to an 11-2 start in the first four minutes. The Mavericks got good looks and used Reed Thyne as a focal point on post ups or she initiated the offense from the high post.
The Skyhawks started moving the ball better and cashed in on three 3-pointers. Senior forward Darla Hernandez hit a midrange jumper to tie the game at 15 with 2:30 to go. FLC did a much better job in the middle of the quarter of walling up on Reed Thyne defensively; that was mostly done by sophomore forward Sarah Chick while Hernandez was on the bench. Colorado Mesa led 22-19 after the first.
The Mavericks started the second on a 7-0 run. All the production came in the paint, including four points from Reed Thyne. FLC put up three air balls from 3-point range during this stretch.
Knapp started the scoring for FLC with a contested baseline jumper. FLC continued to have trouble against Reed Thyne in the post. Kingston also splashed in a 3-pointer and had a couple of nice drives against the taller Maverick forwards.
Hernandez picked up her second foul in the second quarter so Chick had to deal with Reed inside. Colorado Mesa repeatedly threw the ball down into Reed Thyne during a two-minute stretch toward the end of the second. Reed Thyne took advantage of the Chick matchup and used some nice footwork to score a few buckets inside. Colorado Mesa led 37-30 at half.
“She was player of the year for a reason; she'll probably be player of the year again this year,” Zuniga said about Reed Thyne. “It would be dumb if she's not, because she's really good. She puts up these numbers all the time. A couple of different things we can look at against her that would have cut her points were offensive rebounds.”
The Skyhawks started the third scoring well with 11 points in the first four minutes. FLC moved the ball well and had good penetration. The Mavericks led 45-44 with 5:32 left in the third. Zuniga said the key was how the Skyhawks pushed the pace.
FLC continued to have strong jump shooting in the middle of the third quarter to stay within striking distance. The problem was Reed Thyne was still out there. She dominated inside the paint and made the FLC forwards look like local high schoolers with her combination of size and athleticism. The Skyhawks opted to leave Hernandez, Kingston and Chick on an island in the post and Reed Thyne took advantage; she had 13 points in the third on 5-8 shooting and Colorado Mesa led 62-52 after three.
Zuniga said the Skyhawks’ strategy was to shut down everyone else and let Reed Thyne do her thing.
The Mavericks went away from Reed Thyne in the middle of the fourth as she looked exhausted from carrying the offense in the third and the start of the fourth. FLC scored in transition to keep the margin around 10 points.
Freshman guard Katie Lamb hit a 3-pointer after multiple Mavericks turnovers and Knapp finished inside to cut the deficit to 72-68 with a minute left. But Kravig had the answer as the team’s facilitator. She broke down her defender and hit a baseline jumper to put the Mavericks up six with 40 seconds to seal the game.
The Skyhawks play at home on Saturday against Western Colorado at 1 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
