Box Score

DENVER — The historic, first-ever battle between two Rocky Mountain  Athletic  Conference women's basketball teams ranked in the Top Five of the USA TODAY ESPN coaches' poll ended badly for No. 4 Fort Lewis, as No. 5 Metro State (15-1 overall, 11-1 RMAC) trounced the Skyhawks (14-2, 11-1) 78-51 tonight at the Auraria Event Center.

In the process, the Roadrunners handed seventh-year FLC head coach Mark Kellogg the second worst loss of his career. The 27-point deficit was only topped by a 31-point loss at West Texas A&M (90-59) on Nov. 25, 2005 – in just the third game of Kellogg's coaching career.

Fort Lewis did little right tonight.  The Skyhawks shot cold – just 25.9 percent from the field (15 of 58) and .318 (7 of 22) from behind the arc. Metro State won the rebounding battle by a dominating 48-33 clip. The Skyhawks also committed 18 turnovers, while forcing just 14 Roadrunner miscues.

“We just got outworked …. completely outplayed, outworked, outhustled,” said Kellogg. “We got beat in every facet of the game.”

The Skyhawk skipper gave credit where credit was due. “They were ready. They were hungry,” he said of Metro State.

“We're eating a little bit of humble pie right now, because we got humbled tonight, for sure,” he said.

“We didn't shoot it very well and they shot it unbelievably well,” he added. “They made us pay for the mistakes that we made in the first half.”

No Skyhawk scored in double digits, although Jenna Santistevan grabbed 14 rebounds (10 offensive). Dana Schreibvogel and Katerina Garcia scored nine points each.

Fort Lewis, which ranks second in the nation in assists per game, recorded a season-low six helpers, three of which came from the hands of Schreibvogel.

Santistevan's putback in the first minute gave FLC its only lead of the game at 2-0.

Brandi Valencia led a balanced Roadrunner attack with 13 points. Caley Dow notched a double-double with 12 points – all of which came in the first half – and 14 rebounds. Candice Kohn came off the bench to add 10 points.

The Roadrunners led 46-25 at intermission.

Metro State shot 42.6 percent (26 of 61) from the field, but was particularly hot in the first half when it hit for a blistering 59.4 percent (19 of 32).

The league loss was just the sixth for the Skyhawks in the last five seasons. FLC had gone 85-5 in its last 90 RMAC games – a .944 winning percentage.

Both of FLC's 2011-12 losses have happened on the home courts of teams currently ranked in the USA TODAY ESPN Top Five.

Fort Lewis continues its two-game Denver road trip at Regis (6-11, 4-7 heading into tonight's game with Adams State) at 7 p.m. tomorrow in the Regis Fieldhouse.