Mountaineer women’s basketball surges past Fort Lewis

The Western Colorado University women's basketball team defeated the Fort Lewis Skyhawks away on Feb. 15 with a score of 86-70.

Senior Rachel Cockman and junior Ivey Schmidt gave the Mountaineers a quick 6-2 advantage over Fort Lewis in the opening minutes. But the Skyhawks turned things around, took advantage on a run and edged ahead. Schmidt and sophomore Alyssa Eckroth tied the game 10-10.

A turnaround jumper and two free throws from graduate Jayde Tschritter put the Mountaineers ahead by four, until the Skyhawks took another advantage before the buzzer. Western rode high on momentum at the start of the second quarter, and bagged 10 unanswered points to jump ahead 28-20. With 5 minutes left in the first half, junior Chloe Daniels assisted Eckroth to continue to push the Mountaineers’ advantage.

The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) rivals traded possessions until Schmidt ended the drought and knocked down a shot from the free throw line. Fort Lewis tied the game at 34 with less than a minute in the half. A last-second jumper by Schmidt catapulted the ladies into the locker room ahead 36-34.

Straight out of halftime, the Skyhawks hit an opening shot to equalize. But multiple scores from sophomore Jayda Maves, Cockman and Tschritter gave the Mountaineers a 10-point cushion.

Cockman then hit a turnaround jumper and junior Natalie Jojola finished from behind the arch to move the Mountaineers lead to 19. The Skyhawks attempted to scrape back into the contest, but the Crimson and Slate maintained their lead, and finished atop their division rivals, 86-70.

Cockman led the Mountaineers with a double-double, putting up 24 points and grabbing 11 boards. Schmidt followed with 20 points, and Maves and Eckroth both recorded 10.

The Mountaineer women's basketball team will return to the Paul Wright Gymnasium on Thursday, Feb. 20 to take on Chadron State College in a 5:30 p.m. RMAC battle. Results were not available by press time.

(Drew Dunathan is the assistant athletics communications director at Western Colorado University, and can be reached at ddunathan@western.edu.)