DENVER – January 17, 2015 – For the second year in a row, the Fort Lewis College women's basketball team came from behind to force overtime and defeat MSU Denver at Auraria Event Center.  The Skyhawks, playing in their first overtime game of the season, defeated the Roadrunners, 65-61.  Last season, FLC won 89-88 in overtime on the Roadrunners home court.
 
"It was a good gut-check win for us tonight," said Fort Lewis College head women's basketball coach Jason Flores.  "It was tough after dropping a game last night.  We played hard, disciplined and poised tonight, and that's good to see as a coach when your player's bounce back like that.  Down the stretch when the game got tight, we were poised; we didn't panic.  We wanted to go inside-out and we got Mary (Brinton) some good touches, and Kaile (Magazzeni) had a good game across the board.  Defensively we buckled down.  We didn't panic and that was the best of it.  We played solid defense and didn't give them good looks."
 
Fort Lewis trailed by as many as eight points in the second half, 43-35, with 12:55 left in the game before they went on a 9-0 run to take their first lead of the game.  Michelle Turner hit two three-point field goals during the Skyhawks 9-0 run. 
 
With 4:24 left in regulation, the Skyhawks were down five, 57-52, before Mary Brinton made a layup followed by Kate Bayes' two made free throws.  Brinton made one of her six free throws with six seconds left in the game to knot the score, 57-57, and send the game into overtime.
 
In the extra period, Brinton scored six of the Skyhawks eight points after making two jump shots and two free throws.  Kylie Santos and Kate Bayes each added a made free throw.  Brinton scored the first bucket of overtime but Kendra Jesik tied the game for MSU Denver.  Kylie Santos was fouled and she made 1-of-2 free throws to give the lead back to the Skyhawks, which they would not lose for the remainder of overtime.
 
Brinton led all scorers with 22 points.  Her 22 points are also a season high for the Skyhawks.  She made 8-of-15 field goals and 6-of-9 free throws while pulling down five rebounds.  Turner came off the bench to net 11 points, nine of which came from long range.  Bayes added 14 points and was near perfect from the free throw line, making 10-of-11 attempts.  She also dished out four assists and stole the ball six times.  Kaile Magazzeni added 10 points, five assists, two blocked shots and one steal.
 
The Skyhawks improve to 9-6 overall and 6-5 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.  MSU Denver moves to 10-5 overall and 7-4 in league games.
 
Fort Lewis will return home to Whalen Gymnasium Jan. 23-24 to play host to Colorado Christian University and Colorado School of Mines.  Both games will tip-off at 5:30 p.m.