Box Score How It Happened
The 11-year wait is over as the Colorado School of Mines women's basketball team pulled off the 57-56 upset at Fort Lewis College to improve to 2-0 in RMAC play.
Mines (4-2, 2-0) had not won at Fort Lewis since 2004 as they shot an incredible 8-of-11 from deep in the second half to stun the Skyhawks. The Orediggers held the RMAC's top scoring offense 24 points below their season average of 79.8 points per game.
Tied at 56 after FLC's Michelle Turner hit a three-pointer from NBA range, redshirt-freshman Emily Bailey drew a shooting foul on the Skyhawks' Dallas Dickerson with one second remaining in the contest. After missing her first attempt, Bailey sank her second one to give Mines its second straight conference road victory.
Carrying over the defensive effort from the big win at Colorado Christian last weekend, Mines held the RMAC's top scoring offense to only 21 points on 20% shooting in the first half.
The game started out with both teams trading the lead back-and-forth with Mines leading 8-7 at the first media timeout midway through the first quarter. The Skyhawks would then finish out the period on an 11-5 run to take an 18-13 advantage. A pair of three-balls by FLC's Michelle Turner propelled that quarter ending run.
Then, just like as they did against the Cougars a week ago, the Orediggers defense turned it up several notches as they held Fort Lewis to three points – all from the free throw line – the entire second quarter. Unfortunately, FLC's defense was also strong during the period as they held Mines to only five points from free throws themselves to take a 21-18 lead at the break.
In quite the contrast of the second quarter that saw eight total points, CSM and FLC combined for 41 points in the third. After only scoring 18 points in the first half, Mines' offense came to life with a 22-point explosion which included four made three-pointers. Sophomore Paige Husa led that charge with both of her treys coming in the last 1:13 of the period.
The scoring continued for Mines in the fourth quarter as they opened with an 11-2 run which included a three-pointer from each of Emily Bailey, freshman Anna Kollmorgen and junior Laura Tyree. Leading by 11 (51-40), Fort Lewis proceeded to slowly chip away at CSM's lead as they held the Orediggers without a basket over the next three minutes.
With the lead down to two, Mines stopped the bleeding with a massive three-ball from Kollmorgen with 3:12 remaining to take a 54-49 lead. The Skyhawks still kept coming though as they got back to within one at 54-53 before Bailey got a layup at with two minutes remaining to set up the crazy finish.
Notables
- The last time Mines won in Durango was on December 18, 2004 when they knocked off the Skyhawks 63-62 in overtime. The win was also the Orediggers' first win – home or away – over Fort Lewis since February 17, 2012.
- Of Mines' four made three-pointers in the third quarter, all four of them were of the go-ahead daggers.
- As mentioned, the Orediggers were 8-of-11 on three-pointers in the second half after going 0-of-5 in the first half. They also made six in a row at one point.
- Coming into the game, Fort Lewis was the RMAC's top scoring offense averaging 79.8ppg while shooting a league-best 42.1%. CSM held that same high-scoring Skyhawks team to a season-low 56 points on 25.4% shooting.
- The hot three-point shooting for Mines counteracted FLC's nine more made free throws.
- Fort Lewis won most of the offensive categories on the night, but got a 14-11 advantage in bench points a huge 14-6 gain on points in the paint proved huge.
- They also out-assisted FLC, 15-to-8 which led to far easier buckets for Mines.
- Emily Bailey and Laura Tyree led Mines in scoring with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
- Redshirt-sophomore Caitlyn Smith pulled down 12 boards on the night which tied her career high.
Up Next
Mines will look to keep the road magic going tomorrow evening when they make the drive over to Alamosa for a showdown at Adams State. First tip is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
