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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Sydney Candelaria 2.13
Benjamin Brashear, FLC Marketing
52
Fort Lewis FLC 0-1,0-0 RMAC
77
Winner Eastern N.M. EastNM 1-0,0-0 Lone Star
Fort Lewis FLC
0-1,0-0 RMAC
52
Final
77
Eastern N.M. EastNM
1-0,0-0 Lone Star
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Fort Lewis FLC 10 11 19 12 52
Eastern N.M. EastNM 17 27 16 17 77

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Angela Roberts, Athletic Communications Assistant

Women's Basketball Falls in Season Opener, 77-52; Candelaria Leads the Team with 17 Points

SILVER CITY, N.M. – The Fort Lewis College women's basketball team opened the 2021-22 season on Friday night, falling to Eastern New Mexico University by a score of 77-52 to kick off the Conference Challenge Event. Fort Lewis drops to 0-1 on the year while Eastern New Mexico improves to 1-0 on the young season.

"We're happy to get the season going. Eastern is a great program with great coaching and talented players," said head coach Taylor Harris. "The beauty of playing back to backs is that you get to move on and play again the next day, and we will do just that. The group will continue to grow game by game."

The Skyhawks shot 26.2 percent (16-of-61) from the field and 32.1 percent (9-of-28) from three. The Greyhounds shot 46.7 percent (28-of-60) from the field and 47.4 percent (9-of-19) from beyond the arc.

Senior Sydney Candelaria paced FLC with 17 points, including 12 in the second half, to go along with four assists. Kelsey Sorenson reach double-figures with 10 points and a team-best six rebounds.

"Sydney is a vital part of this team, on and off the court. She grew tremendously as a leader for our team, and I'm proud of how she led in the second half effort. We can expect her to grow and get better as the season goes on," commented Harris.

The teams took time to get into the groove to start the opening quarter with redshirt freshman Ava Strange putting up the first three of the evening with 7:32 on the clock. The Greyhounds responded to pull within one at 6-5, but a three-pointer from redshirt freshman Jana Conejero had FLC up 9-5. Eastern would enjoy an eight-point run over the following five minutes to see a 13-9 advantage. Redshirt freshman Claudia Vidal put up a free throw to get the Skyhawks to 10-points, but a four-point burst had FLC trailing 17-10 at the end of the quarter.

Vidal knocked down a three with 8:16 remaining in the second to bring the score to 21-13, but the Greyhounds answered back with back-to-back three's, going up 27-13. The momentum continued to swing in favor of Eastern, with the lead extending to 34-13 before a free throw from Candelaria got FLC on track. The Skyhawks had a late push, taking advantage of free throw opportunities, but the lead sat at 44-21 heading into the break.

Eastern scored six-straight out of the locker room, but free throws from Candelaria and a three-pointer from redshirt sophomore Tayla Nez kicked off a point-scoring opportunity for FLC. The Skyhawks had an 8-2 run to narrow the lead to 57-26 with 3:39 on the clock. Sorenson dropped in a layup to close out the quarter with the score sitting at 60-40 with one quarter to go. FLC outscored Eastern 19-16 in the third quarter.

The Greyhounds remained tough in the final quarter, owning a 69-45 advantage with six minutes to go. Nez notched her second three of the contest, followed by a Sorenson layup to bring things to 71-50. The lead proved to be too much to overcome with a Greyhound layup closing things out in 77-52 fashion.

"After the first half, we talked about going back to what makes us a great team, which is sharing the basketball and getting stops. I think we tried to find our identity on the offensive end rather than focusing our energy defensively," noted Harris. "Our halftime talk was great, and our team really stepped up and made great strides in the second half."

Fort Lewis (0-1) hits the hardwood for a 6:00 p.m. tip off with Western New Mexico University tomorrow to wrap up the opening weekend of play. 
 
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