Box Score

SAN DIEGO, CALIF. — Every member of the Fort Lewis College women's basketball team got to see a few minutes on the court, and most of them even got a basket or two on the way to a resounding 72-52 win over California State-San Bernardino on Friday, but seventh-year FLC head coach Mark Kellogg said his team has to play complete games into the second half if it hopes to win games against other Division II powerhouses.

In their first game of the UC-San Diego Thanksgiving Classic at UCSD's RIMAC Arena, the Skyhawks (3-0 overall) worked circles around the Coyotes (1-1) in the first half, spreading the wealth around and going up 42-21 to head into the locker room after 20 minutes.

With a pronounced size advantage, Fort Lewis' frontcourt did the most damage. Guard Erika Richards came off the bench to lead the Skyhawks with 11 points, while centers Jamie Simmons and Jenna Santistevan led the way with 10 points each.

The No. 4 Skyhawks had 19 assists total, five coming from guard Katerina Garcia, as the team hit 57 percent of its shots from the floor, including four of 10 from three-point range, simply outplaying a Coyote team that hit just 36 percent of its total shots and only 16 percent from beyond the three-point arc.

“Really good first half offensively, defensively and shot it really well,” Kellogg said.

But then something happened that Kellogg said has been a problem every game so far this year and could prove to be disastrous against No. 8 UC-San Diego on Saturday: the Skyhawks lost their focus.

Although their lead was never in much danger, the Skyhawks did lose the second half 31-30, something that Kellogg said he was “pretty disappointed” about effort-wise.

“We just didn't come out with the energy and effort that we needed in the second half,” he said.

He said the women let up a little bit and failed to make the turnovers that their hard-pressing, fast-paced defense should be capable of. Fort Lewis stole the ball 10 times in the game.

The Skyhawks also gave up too many offensive rebounds, he said. Overall, the Skyhawks outrebounded the Coyotes 37-29 with Simmons and Mary Rose Paiz leading with five apiece and Schreibvogel pulling down four.

And another weakness, Kellogg said, was his team's free throw shooting. The Skyhawks hit just 56 percent of their shots from the free throw line, and that, he said, could be an “Achilles' heel” in matchups to come.

The Coyotes didn't shoot any better from the line, but against good teams like UC-San Diego (4-0), which Kellogg said is as good as any team in the country as far as he's concerned, the Skyhawks can't afford those types of errors or they'll pay the price, he said.

“(Saturday's game) is huge. We've got a big test,” Kellogg said. “We're going to find out where we stand one way or the other.”

Additional contribution to this story by Fort Lewis College Assistant Director of Athletics Chris Aaland.