Box score
LAS VEGAS, N.M. —
Katerina Garcia and
Alex Easterbrook combined for 43 points and nine assists as Fort Lewis (12-8 overall, 11-5 in the
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) defeated New Mexico Highlands (4-17, 4-13) last night at the John A. Wilson Complex.
First-year FLC head coach
Jason Flores was happy with nearly every aspect of the Skyhawks' game. “We shot better than they did and shot well from threes,” he said. “We had more assists to turnovers. Defensively, we held them to 37 percent, which is not a bad number … to keep somebody in the 30s on their home court is a good job. They're a talented team.”
The lone flaw? Rebounding. The Cowgirls dominated the glass, outrebounding Fort Lewis 51-32. Highlands collected 18 offensive caroms.
“The only negative to the game was the rebounding differential,” said Flores. “We rebounded really poorly and got beaten handily on the boards. This was really why the game was somewhat close.”
Fort Lewis led by a deuce at recess, 32-30 before outscoring the Cowgirls 39-34 in the second stanza.
Garcia led the way with 23 points, four assists and three steals. The senior guard went 4-of-5 from behind the arc.
Easterbrook nearly matched her fellow senior with 20 points, five assists and four steals, while going 4-of-8 from behind the arc.
“Kat and Alex both had some nice games,” said Flores. “It was through the rhythm of the offense that they got their points. Everyone else pitched in and did what we needed to do.”
The Skyhawks had 17 assists to just eight turnovers, while recording 15 steals.
Ashley Kuchar and
Mary Brinton had strong defensive games, with each notching three thefts.
Fort Lewis shot 47.4 percent from long distance (9-of-19) and 40.6 percent (26-of-64) from the floor.
Highlands shot just 37.5 percent from the field (24-of-64) and 35 percent from behind the arc (7-of-20). The Cowgirls committed 21 turnovers while notching 16 assists.
“This was a long road trip and two come out with two wins, we did what we needed to do,” said Flores. “Now we get to go back home. We have two really good teams coming in next weekend. We've just got to worry about the first one on Friday and then we can go from there. We're happy to be heading back home. It should be exciting an few weeks coming up down the stretch.”
The Skyhawks face Colorado State-Pueblo (15-5, 12-4) on Friday and UC-Colorado Springs (16-4, 13-3) on Saturday. Both games start at 5:30 p.m. in Whalen Gymnasium.
The two games are critical for Fort Lewis as it continues to battle for home court advantage in next month's RMAC Shootout. UCCS currently sits in third place in league standings, two games ahead of FLC, while CSU-Pueblo is in fourth, one game ahead of the Skyhawks.
Fort Lewis also hopes to avenge road losses to the two teams on the first weekend of the regular season. UCCS defeated FLC 70-65 on Nov. 30, while CSU-Pueblo beat FLC 70-55 on Dec. 1. Salvaging splits in the season series with each team will be important for league playoff seeding and possible NCAA playoff berths.
