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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

WBB 1.25
Peyton Rutkowski
68
Colo. Christian CC 6-14,5-7 RMAC
72
Winner Fort Lewis FLC 13-5,8-4 RMAC
Colo. Christian CC
6-14,5-7 RMAC
68
Final
72
Fort Lewis FLC
13-5,8-4 RMAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Colo. Christian CC 10 14 24 20 68
Fort Lewis FLC 17 19 18 18 72

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

Skyhawks grind out 72-68 victory over Colorado Christian

DURANGO, Colorado — The Fort Lewis College women's basketball team topped off a spotless weekend on Saturday, grinding out a 72-68 victory over Colorado Christian University inside Whalen Gymnasium.

After leading by as many as 14 points in the first half, Fort Lewis (13-5 overall, 9-4 RMAC) had to weather a late surge by the visiting Cougars (6-13 overall, 6-7 RMAC) to clinch win No. 13, which matches the Skyhawks' win total from a season ago.

"Credit to Colorado Christian, they fought extremely hard that second half and hit some shots when needed," said Fort Lewis head coach, Orlando Griego. "But our team was resilient and these girls had the will to win to seal the deal."

It was a group effort on Saturday as nine different players scored on the evening for the Skyhawks, including four players in double-figures led by junior guard Sydney Candelaria with 13 points.

Fellow junior guard Katrina Chandler added 12 points, 10 of which came in the second half, while the forward duo of Jordan Vasquez and Jordan Carter followed with 11 points and 10 points, respectively.

"Moving the ball was our big focus," Griego said. "These past couple weeks we've really been stagnant, passing the ball inside with no movement, so the biggest thing was keeping the ball moving."

Fort Lewis would carry a six-point lead into the fourth quarter at 54-48, but the Skyhawks quickly found themselves facing a four-point hole as Colorado Christian caught fire from behind the 3-point line.

The Cougars hit their first three 3-point attempts of the quarter to take a 59-57 lead at the 6:19 mark and bumped the advantage to 63-59 with 3:48 remaining.

FLC responded by closing out the game on a 13-4 run, sparked by a three-point play cashed in by Candelaria and helped along by six free throws by the Skyhawks down the stretch.

They retook the lead with 90 ticks remaining on a pair of free throws by Vasquez at 68-66 and received three key makes from the charity stripe by Chandler and senior Kayla Herrera-Flores to nail down the 72-68 final.

Herrera-Flores finished with nine points and a team-high eight rebounds from the guard position while adding three assists and no turnovers in her 31 minutes.

Fort Lewis finished with a 34-24 advantage in points in the paint and outscored the Cougars 26-17 in bench points.

The Skyhawks will look to build off the weekend sweep when they continue their four-game home stand next weekend with matchups against Dixie State University (13-6 overall, 8-5 RMAC) and Westminster College (16-3 overall, 11-2 RMAC) with all three teams vying for RMAC playoff spots.

"It's going two teams that are coming in playing well right now," Griego said of Westminster and Dixie State. "I think all of us are sitting in the top-tier of the conference so every game matters. They know that and we know that. I have a lot of faith in our team and the way that we work. I'm proud of these girls and they're going to bring it next week."
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