Box Score

DURANGO, Colo. — Mary Rose Paiz scored a career-high 23 points and went 6-for-6 from three-point range as No. 15 Fort Lewis (22-4 overall, 19-3 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) torched Colorado Mesa (13-13, 11-11) 92-57 at Whalen Gymnasium.

“It was a good effort on senior night. I'm happy for the seniors to get that performance,” said seventh-year FLC head coach Mark Kellogg.

“Obviously, Mary, in particular, just had it really going. That's so great to see for a kid that's given us everything for the four years,” he added.

Paiz became the second player in school history to have a perfect game from behind the arc with five or more attempts. Nichole Quast (2001-05) was 7-for-7 against Northwest Nazarene on Nov. 20, 2004.

Paiz wasn't alone. FLC's All-American, Dana Schreibvogel, hit a pair of treys and an old-fashioned three-point play in the five minutes to stake the Skyhawks to a 14-8 lead. Schreibvogel finished with 11 points, three rebounds, three assists, and a pair of steals.

“Dana got it going really early for us, which is huge for us because we feed off her,” said Kellogg.

Fort Lewis' one-two punch in the paint, Jenna Santistevan and Jamie Simmons, also factored into the win. Simmons came off the bench to score 15 points and grab six rebounds, while Santistevan had seven points, seven rebounds (six offensive), and a pair of blocks. She also became just the fourth player in FLC history to notch 100-plus career blocks.

“I'm just happy for that class,” Kellogg said of the group that also includes four-year super-sub Stephanie Beeman.

“They made a bunch of shots and we just fed off that,” he added. “It also makes you want to play a little harder defensively as well when you're scoring points like we did.”

The shooting was contagious in the first half, as the Skyhawks knocked down one three-point bomb after another. FLC shot 69.2 percent from behind the arc in the opening frame (nine of 13) and 60.9 percent for the game (14 of 23). Six different players sank treys.

Fort Lewis also managed to hold its own rebounding against the physical Mavericks and had a season-low nine turnovers.

“A couple things that are our Achilles heels are turnovers and rebounding,” said Kellogg. “It may have been a season low in turnovers (it was). And we controlled the boards, I thought, for the most part.”

The rebounding battle was level at 33, but the Skyhawks owned a 14-11 advantage on the offensive end.

The Skyhawks led 52-29 at intermission and didn't let up in the second stanza, winning the latter half 40-28.

Colorado Mesa was led by Kelsey Sigl, who scored 15 points and added seven rebounds and three blocks. Alaina Brennan scored 14 off the bench for CMU, while Katrina Selsor notched a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Erika Richards came off the bench for FLC to score 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field (2-of-3 from three-point land).

No. 7 Metro State (24-2, 20-2) won its second straight conference regular season crown with a 70-58 win over Regis to lock up the top seed in next week's RMAC Shootout. The Roadrunners finished one game in front of the Skyhawks in the league standings for the second year in a row.

Fort Lewis earned the second seed in the playoffs and will host seventh-seeded UC-Colorado Springs (15-12, 11-11) at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Whalen Gymnasium. The two teams held serve on their home courts in the regular season, with FLC winning 81-65 in Durango on Dec. 2 and the Mountain Lions winning 84-78 in Colorado Springs on Feb. 11.

“We'll prepare for them and get ready for that matchup,” said Kellogg. “We just keep getting a little better and keep improving. I think we're in a pretty good spot. It was a good weekend for us, but now it's time to go to work … survive and advance mode now.”

Colorado Mesa finished eighth in the RMAC regular season and opens postseason play at Metro State at 5 p.m. Tuesday.