Black Hills St. BHSU 11-4,7-1 RMAC

Fort Lewis FLC 5-11,2-6 RMAC

Black Hills St. BHSU

11-4,7-1 RMAC

Final

Jan. 18, 2025

Fort Lewis FLC

5-11,2-6 RMAC

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	4	F
Black Hills St. BHSU	10	20	12	19	61
Fort Lewis FLC	6	10	13	14	43

Summary
Box Score

Kaitlyn Silva

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | 1/18/2025 3:41:00 PM | Angela Roberts, Associate AD-Communications

Cold shooting leads to home loss for Skyhawks women's basketball

DURANGO. Colo. – Plagued by cold shooting against one of the best defensive teams in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the Fort Lewis College women's basketball surrendered a 61-43 loss to Black Hills State on Saturday.

Fort Lewis dropped to 5-11 overall and 2-6 in conference play while Black Hills State got back on track after a surprising loss on Thursday to sit at 11-4, 7-1 RMAC.

The Skyhawks shot just 28.3 percent (17-of-60) from the field to mark a season-low. The Yellow Jackets had a solid shooting night with a 41.8 percent (23-of-55) clip from the field. Fort Lewis was especially inefficient from deep where it shot just 5.6 percent (1-of-18)—the fewest three-pointers made in a game since the 2019-20 season.

Another piece of the stifling defense for Black Hills State came off the glass where they outrebounded Fort Lewis 50-26. The Skyhawks were the better ball-handling team, though, with just eight turnovers compared to 18 for the Yellow Jackets. Black Hills State was credited with 16 assists to just seven for Fort Lewis.

The Skyhawks played with a short bench due to injury and struggled to find a rhythm. Senior Darla Hernandez was the lone player to reach double-digit points at 10, followed by seven from sophomore Trista Hoobler. Sophomore Natalie Guanella paced the squad with a career-high eight rebounds, and senior Livia Knapp added four steals.

Fort Lewis began the first quarter with struggles from the field and only got on the board when Knapp converted a pair of free throws three minutes into play. Guanella gave the team its first field goal of the day at the four-minute mark to make it a 6-4 deficit and followed it up with a layup to tie the score. Black Hills State scored the final four points of the quarter to carry a 10-6 lead into the second quarter. Neither side shot particularly well in the first quarter, combining for a 22.4 percent efficiency and a 0-of-9 clip from three.

The drought continued for the Skyhawks in the second quarter with the difference growing to 12 points before a tip-in from Hoobler made it 18-8. The teams traded three-pointers from there, including one from junior Laisha Armendariz, but the Yellow Jackets sustained the momentum to see a 30-13 lead with 90 seconds on the clock. Sophomore Katie Lamb managed to draw a foul on a made layup in the final seconds for a three-point play to end the half in a 30-16 score.

Hernandez got Fort Lewis off to a promising start in the third with a jumper in the first possession to cut the lead. The senior continued to work and brought the score to 36-24 with 2:42 to go. The Skyhawks held onto the momentum swing and brought the score to 36-26 after junior Deniece Ryan drove to the rim with 1:39 remaining. The final minute saw a pair of three-pointers for Black Hills State and a 3-of-4 effort for the Skyhawks at the stripe to make it 42-39 heading into the final quarter.

The Yellow Jackets quickly scored to open the fourth, and Knapp countered with a layup following a sequence of offensive rebounds for a 44-31 score. The visitors extended the lead with a 7-2 scoring run that was slowed down by a layup from Lamb to see the difference at 16 points. Black Hills State went right back to it and did it from deep with a pair of threes building the lead to 60-35 with 2:44 to go. Hernandez countered with back-to-back jumpers, and junior Evan Kingston and Hoobler added four more points to make it 60-43 with under one minute remaining. The Yellow Jackets closed it out with one made free throw to collect a 61-43 win.

Fort Lewis (5-11, 2-6 RMAC) travels to the Front Range next week for games against Colorado Christian (Jan. 23 at 6 PM) and UCCS (January 25 at 1 PM). It kicks off a series of four-straight road games to wrap up the year's first month.

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