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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Sydney Candelaria 1.18
FLC junior Sydney Candelaria limited CMU's Daniella Turner to six points on 3-of-12 shooting on Saturday (File photo).
35
Fort Lewis FLC 11-5,6-4 RMAC
38
Winner Colorado Mesa CMU 15-2,11-0 RMAC
Fort Lewis FLC
11-5,6-4 RMAC
35
Final
38
Colorado Mesa CMU
15-2,11-0 RMAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Fort Lewis FLC 9 6 13 7 35
Colorado Mesa CMU 4 14 7 13 38

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

Skyhawks push RMAC leaders to the brink, but fall 38-35 on the road to Colorado Mesa

GRAND JUNCTION, Colorado — The Fort Lewis College women's basketball team had conference leaders Colorado Mesa University on the ropes Saturday night, getting two opportunities in the final minute of regulation to take the lead or tie, but fell just shy of its upset bid, falling by a 38-35 final.

It was a low-scoring, heavyweight bout between two of the top teams in the RMAC standings, with the Mavericks (15-2 overall, 11-0 RMAC) remaining unbeaten atop the conference standings. The Skyhawks (11-5 overall, 7-4 RMAC) stay deadlocked in a four-way tie for third place as teams reach the halfway point of the conference schedule.

"Our girls fought and I'm just so proud of our team," said Fort Lewis head coach, Orlando Griego. "That (Colorado Mesa) is a top-25, nationally ranked-type team and for us to be there at the end, only lose by three, and play that hard it was a good performance on our part."

Down one at 36-35, the Skyhawks looked in prime position to tie or take the lead when junior point guard Katrina Chandler drove to the basket at the end of the shot clock and put up a shot that ricocheted into the hands of fellow junior Jordan Vasquez.

Vasquez appeared to be fouled on her put-back opportunity, but officials ruled that Chandler's shot did not draw iron, resulting in a shot clock violation for FLC with 25.9 seconds remaining. Officials went to the monitor to review the play, but the call on the floor would stand to give the ball back to Colorado Mesa.

"It was a hard call from our perspective and what we saw. We knew we needed to crash the glass with the shot clock going down to see if we could get a second-chance point," Griego said. "Unfortunately, when they went to the monitor they couldn't tell if Katrina's shot grazed the rim like we were hoping because that would have really helped us and it was a big moment in the game."

FLC was forced to foul three times in the final 25.9 seconds before reaching the bonus and sending Colorado Mesa to the line with 9.2 ticks remaining.

Sydni Brandon would knock down both attempts to push the Mavericks' lead to three at 38-35. FLC had two in-bound plays down on its end the ensuing possession, but were unable to get off a potential game-tying 3-pointer before the final horn.

"It's tough going into the final seconds to get a shot off when Mesa was playing aggressive defense and they did a nice job of denying the ball," Griego said. "We needed to execute just a little bit better to free somebody up for a better shot than what we took."

It was a disappointing end to otherwise strong effort by the Skyhawks, who limited Colorado Mesa to a season-low 38 points on 29% (16-of-55) shooting, spearheaded by the effort of junior guard Sydney Candelaria, who held Mavericks' leading scorer Daniella Turner to six points on 3-of-12 shooting with four turnovers.

Turner entered the evening ninth in the RMAC in scoring at a shade above 15 points per game.

"Sydney Candelaria player her tail off tonight," Griego said. "She held one of the best RMAC scorers to six points and defended at a very high level."

FLC's defense helped the team out to a 9-4 lead after the opening quarter and a three-point lead heading into the fourth quarter at 28-25. Unfortunately for the Skyhawks, Colorado Mesa was up to the task on the defensive end, as well, holding FLC to 27% shooting (13-of-48) and a 1-of-10 mark beyond the 3-point line to stay within contact.

"A four or five-point lead was huge in a game like this. It was a defensive battle and we were going blow for blow," Griego said. "There were a couple of times where I thought we had really good looks at the basket and were just unable to get them to fall. At the end of the day, Mesa was able to put in some key free throws at the end and we weren't able to score enough."

Junior forward Jordan Carter led all Skyhawks with 14 points, while Chandler chipped in seven points, four assists and two rebounds against her former team.

Candelaria finished with five points and a team-high two steals. Vasquez added five points and led the FLC rebounding effort with 10 boards.

While an 0-2 western slope road trip was not what the Skyhawks had hoped for, Saturday's effort was validation that the team is positioned well as they head into the second half of the conference schedule, starting next weekend with home matchups against Regis University (5:30 p.m. Friday) and Colorado Christian University (5:30 p.m. Saturday).

"We believe that we can play with anybody, it doesn't matter if it's on the road or at home, and we're going to be alright. We're going to regroup and stick together," Griego said. "It's one step at a time, one game at a time now. We're playing good basketball right now and the girls are bought in to what we're doing. As long as we're consistently defending, we believe things are going to work out well for us."
 
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