Skyhawks Shoot for Second Half Success

The Fort Lewis College women's basketball team is kicking off the second half of its season with a run of road games that could play a big role in the team's goal of making the postseason. You're watching the Local News Network brought to you by Happy Pappy's Pizza n Wings and Kroegers Ace Hardware. I'm Connor Shreve. Of the eight games on the Skyhawks' schedule in January, just two are at home. Senior co-captain Kelsey Sorenson says the team is focused despite a holiday break in competition.

We've been doing like two-a-day practices, just getting like ready and getting prepared for these next few games and just getting our minds right and our bodies right and prepared for these important games we have coming up.

The Transfer Center has been a part of the program for all of head coach Taylor Harris's tenure and says the work in years one and two is coming to fruition on the court this season.

In the past two years here, you know, like we've been building our program. I came in when Coach Taylor came in too. So we've been building this program together and I think that this year it's all like coming together and really showing what we believe and what we preach on this team.

Sophomore guard Lanae Billy says the team is more cohesive and is playing with more trust.

Yeah, so we won more games this year. I think just building the program last year and I think we just come together a lot better this year and we do a really good job playing together. And I feel like that's just from the last two years that Coach Taylor has been here just building the program.

FLC comes into the new year ranked third in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings led by a zone defense that pressures opponents the length of the court. Coach Harris says the switch in D was influenced by his roster's improved depth and experience.

Well, it's an aggressive defense that takes away threes, that creates turnovers, but above all that, our team is bought into it and they love it and they have fun playing it and creating turnovers, you know, has been a big key to our success, and that's something that they love doing and it's fun to play that fast style of basketball.

The month ahead for FLC includes road trips to the Front Range, Grand Junction and Salt Lake City and could go a long way to helping the team reach its goal for the season.

Yeah, I think that we definitely have a team that can compete to fight to get into the postseason. I mean, that's really what the goal is in year three and beyond. And, you know, we've made that steps to put us in a good position and now we have to, you know, go on the road and really take care of business so that we can stay in good position to fight for the postseason. When only eight out of 15 teams make the conference tournament, and every game is so hard, you know you're going to have your work cut out for you but that's our goal and we're really excited for it.

That would be a welcome way to send off this team's seniors, like Sorenson. With just a couple months left to play college basketball, Sorenson says she's trying to focus on more than just wins or losses.

I think from my time here, my perspective on basketball has changed quite a bit. I think that in the past, I've wanted to just be like the best and never mess up and never make mistakes. And I think Coach Taylor has helped me to like stay competitive and stay like intense and want to win while also like finding the love for basketball. So I think just continuing to find the balance is what I've been trying to do this last season.

The Skyhawks play host just twice in the month of January. You can catch the home action on Friday, January 19th against Chadron State College and Saturday, January 20th as FLC welcomes Colorado Christian to town. For more information on this and other stories, visit durangolocal.news. Thanks for watching this edition of the Local News Network. I'm Connor Shreve.