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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Jordan Vasquez 11.10
Maureen Pasley, FLC Athletics
FLC freshman Jordan Vasquez scored a team-high 15 points in Saturday's loss to Eastern New Mexico.
69
Winner Eastern N.M. EastNM 2-0,0-0 Lone Star
62
Fort Lewis FLC 1-1,0-0 RMAC
Winner
Eastern N.M. EastNM
2-0,0-0 Lone Star
69
Final
62
Fort Lewis FLC
1-1,0-0 RMAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Eastern N.M. EastNM 22 21 12 14 69
Fort Lewis FLC 15 19 9 19 62

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | David Wilson, Assistant AD-Communications

Skyhawks edged 69-62 by Eastern New Mexico

DURANGO, Colorado — Despite a tough day shooting the basketball, the Fort Lewis College women's basketball team put itself in a position to get a win Saturday afternoon in its Conference Challenge matchup against the Lonestar's Eastern New Mexico University.

Unfortunately for the Skyhawks, they ran out of steam late as the visiting Greyhounds were able to squeak out a 69-62 win inside Whalen Gymnasium.

"We didn't shoot the ball at a high rate like we normally do and that's two days in a row," said Fort Lewis head coach, Orlando Griego. "But our girls fought hard, they stuck together and we were able to get some key stops and key baskets to stay in it. We knew Eastern was getting a little tired. Unfortunately, it just didn't go our way."

Fort Lewis (1-1 overall) finished 21-of-72 from the floor (29%) and 5-of-30 (17%) from 3-point distance, making the team 6-of-47 from beyond the arc in the early going.

It's a stat that is certain to change for a Skyhawks' team that shot 30% percent from deep a season ago.

"The shooting will come and our girls just need to remain confident and shoot," Griego said. "It's surprising to us because in our exhibition (against Denver University) we shot the ball at a high rate. This weekend, we didn't shoot the ball well. But it'll come. If we make a couple of those jump shots, it's maybe a one-possession game."

FLC found its shooting stroke early in the fourth quarter when, after entering the fourth trailing 57-43, the Skyhawks went on a 12-0 blitz to close the gap to 57-55 with 6:34 remaining, forcing a Greyhounds' timeout.

Junior forward Chloe Warrington nailed back-to-back 3-pointers for six of her nine points, while fellow junior Katrina Chandler splashed a mid-range jumper to cap the run for two of her 14 points.

"We always tell her 'shooters keep shooting,' and we were glad to see her continue to shoot," Griego said. "Chloe was a great spark have coming off the bench. Once we saw the ball go in a little bit, our team and the crowd — we had a great crowd today — got energized."

Unfortunately for the Skyhawks, that was as close as they'd inch as Eastern New Mexico answered back with a 9-2 run over the next 4:20 to bump the cushion back to nine at 66-57 and hold on for the 69-62 final.

"They countered," Griego said. "They did a good job responding. Eastern has a great coach, nothing but high respect for them, and we just needed some experience out on the floor. A lot of girls we had out there don't yet have that college experience of 'how do you close out a game, how do you box out those last couple possessions, and how do you execute offensively against what the defense is giving you?' But it's good for us to experience it."

As a team, Fort Lewis earned the edge in the turnover battle (16-9), converting those into 19 points, and they also owned a 28-24 advantage in points in the paint despite giving up a lot of size to the ENMU front line of Alivia Lewis (6'2) and Natalie DeLonge (6'4).

Lewis recorded a double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds, while DeLonge chipped in 14 points and seven boards.

"They have great size, good hands and their bigs have good post moves," Griego said of ENMU. "On top of that, they're active on the glass. Best thing we could do was try to get them out of the paint and force them to play through their guards. In the second half, we tried to double and get the ball out of their hands a little more, make it harder on them since they were getting easier shots in the first half."

Fort Lewis freshman forward Jordan Vasquez and redshirt Eve Kulowitz each provided a spark off the bench as Vasquez poured in a team-high 15 points, while Kulowitz was the third Skyhawk in double-figures with 10 points to go with eight rebounds in her 22 minutes.

While ending the opening weekend on a loss was not the desired end result, Griego said he's confident his team will be able to build off their 1-1 mark in the Conference Challenge heading into next Friday's matchup against New Mexico Highlands University.

Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. inside Whalen Gymnasium.

"We always say we're going to learn more when we lose, even though we prefer not to lose," Griego said. "We really want to learn from our losses because, obviously, our goal is to win every game. We'll go back to the film and moving into next week we just want to get better. There are corrections that need to be made, but it's early."
 
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