By Ryan Owens
Herald Sports Writer
PUEBLO - The past few trips to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout have ended in heartbreak for the Fort Lewis College women's basketball team. The past two years, the Skyhawks have come in as the league's top overall seed, and not only did they not bring home the championship platter, they didn't even make the finals.
Consider the first major step in bucking that trend complete.
Fort Lewis, ranked fourth nationally and the top overall seed in the Shootout, advanced to the final for the first time since 2004 by avenging a Dec. 4 loss at Metro State with a 60-46 win in the RMAC Shooutout semifinals on Saturday at the State Fair Event Center in Pueblo.
“This is the first time, I think, I've gotten to talk at one of these (press conferences) after a victory,” Skyhawks coach Mark Kellogg said.
The Skyhawks, now 30-2, used their full-court pressure defense to rattle the Roadrunners, who committed 25 turnovers, many of which occurred during a six-minute scoreless drought in the first half.
“I thought defensively our effort was sustained for the 40 minutes throughout,” Kellogg said. “You hold teams to 46 points, we think we're going to win most nights.”
Metro State, following a first half in which they made just six field goals as a team, opened the second half on a 15-5 run, led by Emily Wood, who scored 13 of her team-leading 15 points during the stretch to cut a 30-14 halftime deficit to 35-29 in just 5 minutes.
But then Laura Haugen would find her stroke. The senior scored 12 of her 14 points in the second half, and the Skyhawks were able to stymie any attempt at a comeback. Haugen was one main beneficiary of the extra defensive attention paid to RMAC Player of the Year Allison Rosel.
“If they're going to focus on the post, the perimeter's going to be open,” Haugen said.
Metro State's Chelsea Williamson insisted that it was poor shooting, not a lack of energy that kept her team from completing the comeback.
“Sometimes you have to get back and play hard, because not everything is going to go your way,” Williamson said.
Dana Schreibvogel started in place of the injured Audrey George for the Skyhawks, and contributed five steals and four points in 21 minutes of action. Kellogg said he was happy with the way his bench stepped up in the absence of the reigning RMAC Defensive Player of the Year, who sat out with a high ankle sprain.
“They did play some good minutes; they played some quality minutes,” he said.
Fort Lewis started out slowly for the second straight contest, falling behind 6-0 in the first two minutes. But after Leandra Sands tied the game at 11 with 10:27 left in the first half, a combination of Skyhawk defensive pressure and missed shots kept the Roadrunners off the board for just over six minutes, building a 24-11 lead in the process.
“You just can't do that against good teams, “ Metro State coach Linda Lappe said. “When we did break the press, which we did a bit early in the game, you have to take advantage.”
Offensively, Katie Mackey carried the load in the first half for the Skyhawks. The senior scored 12 of her 14 points before the break. Mackey and Haugen's 14 points led FLC.
“If I was a coach coaching against us, I wouldn't know who to focus on,” Mackey said of the Skyhawks' multiple offensive threats.
Fort Lewis will take on INSERT TEAM HERE in the Shootout final at 7:30 p.m. tonight, and with a win, the Skyhawks will claim their first league tournament title. FLC fell short in their last final, dropping a 59-44 decision to Nebraska-Kearney in 2004. For this group, it's the first time any of them will play on the league's biggest stage, a chance they're hoping to take advantage of.
“We've had a lot of good things on our resume … but this is the one big gap we've had,” Haugen said.
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