How It Happened

Turnovers and poor shooting doomed the Colorado School of Mines as they were unable slowdown a hot shooting Fort Lewis squad in a 79-63 loss in the RMAC Shootout Quarterfinals on Tuesday, March 1 in Lockridge Arena.

Top-seeded Mines (21-6) shot 28.9% from the field while FLC (18-10) shot at a 46.7% clip. A decisive fourth quarter where the Orediggers were outscored 25-13 proved to be the difference.

After falling behind 11-0 to start the game, Mines slowly chipped away at the score until they finally roared back to tie it up at 15. From there, both teams traded the lead back-and-forth with CSM taking over 25-23 at the end of the period on a Cassidy Budge three-ball.

As high scoring as the opening quarter was the second period was much more defensive, but it saw the Skyhawks outscore CSM 16-8 en route to a 39-33 halftime advantage.

Mines came back to start the second half and took a 43-39 lead midway through the third quarter on a Anna Kollmorgen three-pointer. With 2:22 left in the period the Orediggers would take its final lead of the game 48-47 on the second of two free throws from Kollmorgen.

Fort Lewis ended the third quarter on a 7-2 run which turned into a 21-7 run to put them up 68-54 with six minutes left in the game. From that point forward the Skyhawks did enough to hold of Mines and win the quarterfinal matchup, 79-63.

Notables

-          As mentioned, the key difference in the game was that Fort Lewis shot over 46% while Mines missed countless layup in lieu to a 28.9% shooting performance.

-          The 79 put up by FLC was the most conceded by Mines this season.

-          Mines out-rebounded the Skyhawks 50-38 which lead to a 17-6 advantage in second chance points.

-          The Orediggers had four different players in double figures scoring with Courtney Martin posting a team-high 15. She also grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds four her sixth double-double of the season.

-          Cassidy Budge gave CSM 14 points off the bench with three made three-pointers.