by DURANGO, Colo. – The Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team held UC-Colorado Springs to 31 percent shooting and forced 17 turnovers on their way to claiming the 67-50 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory Friday night inside Whalen Gym.
FLC (7-7, 3-5 RMAC) held UCCS (5-9, 4-4 RMAC) to 36 percent shooting in the first half and then did even better in the second half limiting the Mountain Lions to a 27 percent clip. Overall for the game UCCS went just 17-55 from the floor for a 31 percent total. The Skyhawks turned the 17 turnovers into a 16-9 points off turnovers advantage.
After Jordan Carter and Sydney Candelaria opened the scoring for the Skyhawks, FLC took their first lead of the night near the midway point of the opening quarter off a pair of free throws by Alyssa Yocky for a 6-4 lead.
The teams traded leads the remainder of the quarter before a pair of free throws by Kayla Herrera (Chippewa) left UCCS with a 14-13 lead.
The run ended up being 11-0, as FLC scored the first nine points of the second quarter. Herrera opened the quarter with a jumper, she then added a layup and another jumper before a Candelaria jumper and a three-pointer by Alyssa Yocky left FLC with a 24-14 lead.
The Skyhawks kept the lead around 10, as the Mountain Lions hit a layup before halftime leaving the Skyhawks with the 36-28 lead at the break.
MorningRose Tobey stretched the lead to 15 three minutes into the third quarter. UCCS was only able to trim two points off the deficit the remainder of the quarter behind the strong FLC defense leaving the Skyhawks with the 52-39 lead entering the final quarter.
The Skyhawks left no doubt about the result midway through the quarter when Herrera, Aubre Fortner and Yocky all converted baskets to push the lead to 20. UCCS would get the deficit back to 17 a few times down the stretch, providing the final score of 67-50.
Herrera led the way with 15 points on 6-11 shooting, she also grabbed six rebounds, dished out four assists and came away with five steals. Candelaria tallied 13 points on 5-5 shooting, along with three rebounds, two assists and a steal. Yocky rounded out the three players in double-figures with 10 points and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds. She also added two assists and two steals. Carter added eight points and Kaitlyn Romero with seven.
