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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Sydney Candelaria 12.5.20
Peyton Rutkowski
FLC senior guard Sydney Candelaria finished with eight points in Saturday's 72-69 loss to BHSU
72
Winner Black Hills St. BHSU 1-1,1-1 RMAC
69
Fort Lewis FLC 0-1,0-1 RMAC
Winner
Black Hills St. BHSU
1-1,1-1 RMAC
72
Final
69
Fort Lewis FLC
0-1,0-1 RMAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Black Hills St. BHSU 22 12 25 13 72
Fort Lewis FLC 20 10 16 23 69

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

Skyhawks erase 17-point deficit, but fall 72-69 at the buzzer to BHSU

DURANGO, Colorado — A second half surge by the Fort Lewis College women's basketball team fell just shy Saturday night in its 2020-21 season opener against Black Hills State University as the visiting Yellow Jackets escaped an empty Whalen Gymnasium with a 72-69, buzzer-beating victory.

BHSU (1-1 overall, 1-1 RMAC) guard Alyssia Martinez buried a corner 3-pointer just before the shot clock and game clock hit zeros — her first and only shot attempt of the evening — to spoil what had been a furious second-half rally from the Skyhawks (0-1 overall, 0-1 RMAC)

"It's a tough way to lose, but credit to (Black Hills). They hit a shot when they needed to and won the game," said FLC head women's basketball coach, Orlando Griego. "I'm proud of my team. We came off a 14-day quarantine so to see that kind of effort be displayed, it shows we have a lot of toughness, can compete against a really good team, and put ourselves in a position to win the game."

Fort Lewis stormed back from a 17-point deficit with 2:45 remaining in the third quarter to pull even with Black Hills State (1-1 overall, 1-1 RMAC) on two occasions in the final two minutes.

Senior guard Sydney Candelaria splashed a 3-pointer with 1:58 remaining to tie the score at 66-66, then sophomore guard Alison Chanhthala added a corner 3-pointer of her own with 45 ticks left to even the score again at 69-69.

"Sydney wasn't having the best night shooting, but we pulled her out and told her that she was going to come in big and come in clutch for us at some point in this game," Griego said. "Same thing with Alison, we were pushing the ball and found an extra pass. She was in the corner and knocked that shot down."

Unfortunately for the Skyhawks, they wouldn't have the opportunity to touch the ball again as, following a defensive stop with 21.4 remaining, the 10th offensive rebound of the night for the Yellow Jackets gave them new life, a new possession and set the stage for Martinez's buzzer-beater.

"Black Hills came down and I feel like we did a really good job stopping them, but we gave them an offensive rebound," Griego said. "They called a timeout and wasted the clock a bit, got into their offense, moved the ball well and got a good shot."

After the two teams went into the half with BHSU holding a narrow 34-30 lead, the Yellow Jackets outscored the Skyhawks 25-16 in the third quarter to put FLC in a 59-46 hole heading into the final 10 minutes.

"They went into a zone and we were rushing our shots, had a lot of turnovers and we weren't getting really good looks at the basket. And if we were, we were missing some easy shots and that dug us a hole a little bit," Griego said. "But our girls stuck with it and that's what I'm really happy about."

Sophomore forward Jordan Vasquez helped lead the charge back, scoring 11 of her game-high 23 points in the fourth while finishing with a team-high eight rebounds. who opened the 2020-21 campaign with 23 points — 11 coming in the fourth quarter — while adding a team-high eight rebounds.

Vasquez recorded three of the Skyhawks' five offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter.

"I think the biggest thing for us was challenging our girls to offensive rebound," Griego said of the fourth-quarter comeback. "We went into halftime with zero offensive rebounds and finished the game with eight. We needed to get back to showing our toughness, crashing the boards and getting those opportunities for put-backs. And for Jordan, she got back to that feel of getting (in the paint), grinding it out, being tough and she did a really good job for us."

Senior guard/forward Bailey Osmer joined Vasquez as the second Skyhawk in double-figures with 11 points off the bench, while the guard trio of junior Alyssa Adams, Chanhthala and Candelaria all added eight points apiece.

Junior forward Brooke McGee also shined in her FLC debut with seven points and two rebounds in her 19 minutes off the bench.

As a team, Fort Lewis finished the evening shooting 39.7% from the field (23-of-58) compared to 37.9% (25-of-66) for Black Hills, but struggled at the free-throw line (15-of-23, 65.2%) and in the turnover battle (16-11).

With the first-game rust shaken off, the Skyhawks are geared up for another RMAC clash on Tuesday when they travel out to Gunnison for a 5:30 p.m. tip against Western Colorado University, which beat Black Hills State on Friday night (81-74).

"Looking forward, I'm really happy with our effort and really happy with our girls. In the locker room, I told them that they should be proud of themselves coming off a quarantine and displaying that type of effort of coming back, having that grit and that toughness," Griego said. "(Western Colorado) is going to be tough. They have a really good point guard, a former freshman of the year who had 30 points against Black Hills. They play tough, they're physical, they have good shooters and they were projected to finish second in our conference. We're going to have our hands full, but we're going to go out there and give it our best."
 
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