Written By: Durango Herald Staff

January 3rd, 2009.  Canon, TX. - No. 16 West Texas A&M (14-1) defeated No. 7 FLC (13-2) 73-64 on Sunday afternoon on the Buffs' home floor in Canyon, Texas.

“It was a pretty good game," FLC coach Mark Kellogg said. “I think the difference was their mental and physical toughness. They just had a different gear than us, and we didn't completely match it."

The game was tied four times in the first half - the final tie at 17-all - before the Buffs rallied for a 37-31 halftime lead.

West Texas A&M pushed its biggest margin to 14 points with just less than 10 minutes to play in regulation.

“That's a really good team," Kellogg said. “It was a high, high level of basketball. Some of our kids responded well, and some didn't respond in the particular way that we wanted them to, but I hope we learned from it. I hope we learned that we can still play at another level."

Katie Mackey scored a game-high 19 points in the nine-point loss. Laura Haugen hit four 3-pointers, scored 15 points and had a game-high five assists, and Allison Rosel had 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds for the Skyhawks.

Jamie Simmons led five Buffs in double figures with 16 points.

“I thought they handled the game in every way I wanted them to, both physically and emotionally," West Texas A&M coach Krista Gerlich said in a news release.

“I thought our girls did the best job they've done this year in following the game plan."

Megan McLain scored 15 points for the Buffs, and Joni Unruh scored 14, Holly Isaacs 13 and Maddy Brown 11.

West Texas A&M shot 58 percent (29-for-50) from the floor compared to Fort Lewis' 38-percent (20-for-53) effort and outrebounded the Skyhawks 35-25.

“That was as hard as we have played," Kellogg said. “They force you - when you play good teams - to play at a different level, a different gear. Hopefully we continue to learn from it and play in this gear a little more than we do and not just wait for these kinds of opportunities."

FLC (3-1 in the RMAC) will return to Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play Friday at UC-Colorado Springs then will play five of its next six at Whalen Gymnasium in Durango.

 

Box Score  heraldsports@durangoherald.com