Third quarters have been tough for the Fort Lewis College women’s basketball this season, but it was the fourth quarter at home against MSU Denver that doomed the Skyhawks hopes of victory.
FLC lead going into the fourth, but turnovers, poor shooting and a lot of fouling allowed MSU Denver to leave Durango with a 76-66 road win on Saturday afternoon.
“Obviously, if you lose, you’re not happy with your performance,” FLC head coach Lauren Zuniga said. “There were things I liked a lot, but to be unable to close the game, that’s the disappointing part.”
The Skyhawks dropped to 13-7 overall and 6-6 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference after they shot 38% from the field, 8% from 3-point range and 71% from the free-throw line. Sophomore guard Katie Lamb led the Skyhawks with 13 points on 5-13 shooting from the field, 1-8 from 3-point range and 2-2 from the free-throw line. Junior guard Natalie Guanella added 12 points on 4-7 shooting from the field and 4-5 from the free-throw line.
MSU Denver improved to 9-12 overall and 7-5 in the RMAC after it shot 40% from the field, 32% from 3-point range and 76% from the free-throw line. Mikylah Espinosa led the Roadrunners with 24 points on 7-13 shooting from the field, 1-2 from 3-point range and 9-9 from the free-throw line.
The Skyhawks had a solid start to the game, then finished the first quarter strongly with an 8-3 run to lead 18-13 going into the second quarter. It was the strong start FLC needed after losing to MSU Denver, 95-81, earlier in the season. Zuniga was happy with how her team defended early on, making the Roadrunners take a lot of 3-pointers.
“We really focused on limiting their paint touches,” Zuniga said. “That was a big piece for us, just trying to keep them out of the middle, keep them out of the paint. They do a really good job of getting downhill. Then also limiting our shot selection, making sure that we take good shots … we did a decent job at that until pretty much the end.”
FLC expanded its lead to nine points early in the second quarter, but MSU Denver ended the quarter on a 5-0 run to cut FLC’s advantage to 31-28 at the half. Freshman Savanna Dotray led the Demons with nine points at the half, but didn’t score in the second half. Zuniga was happy with how aggressive Dotray was with finding the soft spots in MSU Denver’s zone defense.
Both teams were beating the defense down the floor for easy buckets. Junior Makaya Porter was getting to the line early with four free throws in the first two minutes, keeping FLC ahead 36-32 with 8:10 left in the third. Her length and the way she contorts her body make it such a tough contest for the defense, allowing her to draw a lot of fouls.
MSU Denver continued to finish inside, and FLC was a little sloppy on defense, allowing the Roadrunners to get out in transition. FLC was also hit with some silly non-shooting fouls in the middle of the third quarter.
The Roadrunners took a 41-40 lead with 3:45 left after some really sloppy play from the Skyhawks. MSU Denver was playing some zone defense, and the Skyhawks couldn’t find the open areas in the zone and turned it over on back-to-back possessions. FLC also made a terrible save under the basket right to a Roadrunner for an easy layup.
Zuniga said the Skyhawks have struggled against zone this year.
“I remember some silly travels, jump passes, and some things we normally don’t do,” Zuniga said. “They are long, big, and they altered the way we played a little bit.”
FLC found freshman forward Alemaualii Fonoti inside late in the quarter with a few great passes, and the Skyhawks led 48-46 going into the fourth.
The battleground continued to be the paint to start the fourth, as neither team looked to shoot from 3-point range. Nevaeh Millard carved through the FLC defense like a knife through warm butter for four consecutive points to tie the game at 52 with 7:13 left.
FLC’s inability to get anything going outside the paint started to cost them in the middle of the fourth. The Roadrunners defense sagged in, and had a great eraser in Keira Mitchell, who finished with five blocks and is one of the longest players FLC has faced. MSU Denver’s continued to beat their defender to get inside, finish and draws fouls as it extended its lead with a 7-0 run to 64-56 with 3:31 left.
MSU Denver kept the pedal to the metal as the Skyhawks struggled with turnovers and missed some open 3-pointers. A fantastic finish in transition, plus the foul by Espinosa, gave the Roadrunners a 70-58 lead with two minutes left.
FLC hits the road to play at Adams State on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
