Written by Dale Strode:
January 16th, 2009. Durango, CO. - The Skyhawks converted pressure into points Friday night.
The Fort Lewis College women's basketball team broke open a close game with a 20-5 run to open the second half en route to a 65-48 victory over Colorado Christian at Whalen Gymnasium.
After shooting only 30 percent from the field in the first half but still managing to lead by 7, 27-20, the Skyhawks upped their relentless defensive pressure in the second half of play.
Ultimately, they forced 29 turnovers, including 17 in the decisive second half.
“We wanted to pressure their guards," FLC senior Katie Mackey said. “They are a big, post-dominant team, so we wanted pressure … outside."
That helped limit the touches inside for Colorado Christian's 6-1 senior Abby Rosenthal, the East Division Player of the Week in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
“I thought we did a good job in the second half defensively," said Mackey, who led Fort Lewis with 14 points. Mackey was honored prior to the game for being the third senior to reach the 1,000 point club, joining Allison Rosel and Laura Haugen. Mackey reached the milestone on December 12th, 2009 in a 81-35 win over Nebraska-Kearney. Mackey has now recorded 1,080 career points.
Mackey, the RMAC's leading free throw shooter at 89 percent, was a perfect 5-for-5 from the line in Friday's win that improved the Skyhawks to 5-1 in the RMAC and 15-2 overall.
The nation's No. 11-ranked team again used defensive pressure to dictate the pace of the game, particularly in the second half.
“That (second-half run) was set up by our defense," said FLC's Audrey George, who also scored 14 points. “The first four minutes of the second half, we really try to get after it (on defense)."
“And we had good energy off the bench," said George, who also had four rebounds in the FLC win.
The Skyhawks turned to their bench early when senior Allison Rosel picked up two quick fouls and played only seven minutes in the first half.
Dana Schreibvogel and Mary Rose Paiz stepped in and pulled down five and four rebounds, respectively. And they added to the 15 steals for the Skyhawks.
“I thought the bench was really good in the second half," FLC head coach Mark Kellogg said. “That group with Lauren McCulloch and Katie Mihalco, they did a nice job."
He said the Skyhawks struggled to get offensive momentum in the first half.
“It was a tale of two halves. We couldn't get any runs going. Then, we got it," Kellogg said. “Our effort was sustained, though, start to finish. And in the second half, we were able to dictate tempo."
Mihalco finished with nine points for FLC. Paiz and Rosel added eight each. McCulloch, with two 3-pointers, added six points.
FLC shot 64 percent from the field, hitting 16 of 25 shots.
Rosenthal had nine points to lead Colorado Christian, 6-7 overall, 4-2 in the RMAC.
The RMAC's leading rebounder, Rosenthal had seven rebounds in the first half Friday night but finished with eight.
Stephanie Allen added eight points off the bench for the Cougars, who were held to 38 percent shooting by FLC.
The victory was the 99th win of Kellogg's coaching career at Fort Lewis College. He's the all-time winningest coach in FLC women's basketball history and with a win tonight, Kellogg will be the first FLC Women's basketball coach to reach 100 wins. He and the Skyhawks will go for No. 100 tonight when they host Colorado School of Mines in a battle of RMAC division leaders.
The game will start at 5:30 p.m., 30 minutes earlier than usual.
Box Score
dstrode@durangoherald.com
