DURANGO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo struggles on the road in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play continued here Friday evening as the ThunderWolves fell 72-53 to Fort Lewis College at Whalen Gymnasium.
 
The loss was the fifth straight and sixth overall of the season for the Pack on the road in RMAC play as they fell to 2-6 on the road in league play and is now 10-11 overall and 7-8 in the league. Fort Lewis improved to 8-13 overall and 5-10 in the RMAC play.
 
After being held to a season low 12 first half points and trailing 31-12 at the half, the two teams played even in the second half as each team scored 41 second half points.
 
Graduate student Morgan Dial (Denver City, Texas/Western Texas College) led the way offensively for the Pack with 12 points, including scoring nine points in the second half. In addition to Dial, sophomore guard Tomia Johnson (Colorado Springs, Colo./Florida Gulf Coast) added 10 points and a career-high six steals. Graduate student guard/forward Charisse Fairley (Colorado Springs, Colo./Fresno State) and senior guard Amaya Lewis (Hobbs, N.M./New Mexico JC) each tallied eight points.
 
The Pack struggled offensively in the first half as along with scoring a season-low 12 points, they shot 2-for-20 (10 percent) from the field and committed 12 turnovers that led to 11 points for the Skyhawks.
 
While the Pack shot 10 percent from the field and were 1-for-10 from the 3-point line, Fort Lewis was 10-for-18 (55.6 percent) from the field and made 10 of its 15 free throws to hold its 31-12 lead at the half.
 
The Pack opened the second half by scoring 14 of the first 23 points to pull within 40-26 following a trey from Dial with 3:53 left in the third quarter. After FLC scored seven of the next nine points to push its lead to 47-28 with 2:07 left in the period, the Pack scored six straight points, including capping the run with back-to-back lay-up from senior guard JaNaiya Davis (Hewitt, Texas/Midway) to pull CSU Pueblo within 13 at 47-34.
 
Fort Lewis would close the quarter on a 7-2 run to take a 54-36 lead heading into the final period.
 
In the fourth quarter, the Pack would open the fourth quarter on a 14-9 run to pull within 65-50 with 3:29 left in the game following a trey from Johnson.
 
FLC, though, would respond by scoring five straight points to push its lead back out to 20 at 70-50. The Pack would close out the game by scoring three of the final five points.
 
Lanae Billy paced Fort Lewis with a game-high 23 points and four steals. In addition to Billy, Kelsey Sorenson added 11 points and eight rebounds and Alyssa Adams had 10 points for the Skyhawks.
 
After getting down 14-2 in the opening eight minutes of the game, the Pack scored five straight points to pull within 14-7 following a trey by Dial with 49 seconds left in the period. FLC would close the opening quarter with a lay-up from Kate Gallery to lead 16-7 after the opening 10 minutes of play.
 
In the quarter, the Pack were 2-for-11 (18 percent) from the field and committed eight turnovers that led to seven points in the quarter for the Skyhawks. Meanwhile, Fort Lewis was 5-for-10 from the field and was 5-for-6 from the free throw line and committed four turnovers.
 
The Skyhawks opened the second quarter on an 7-0 run to push its 16-7 first quarter lead to 23-7 just two-plus minutes into the second period. Fort Lewis eventually pushed its lead to 31-10 with a little under three minutes left in the second quarter, before the Pack capped the first half scoring with two free throws from sophomore guard Landri Hudson (Aurora, Colo./Wyoming) with 2:33 left in the quarter.
 
For the game, the Pack shot a season-low 30.4 percent (17-for-56) from the field and tied a season low for treys with five as they shot 5-for-26 (19.2 percent) from the 3-point line.
 
Perhaps the two bright spots in the game were at the free throw line as the Pack were 14-for-20 (70 percent) at the charity stripe and on defense, they forced a season high 28 turnovers and collected 14 steals.
 
The Pack committed 18 turnovers in game, but had just seven turnovers in the second half after having 11 in the first half.
 
Fort Lewis held a 35-28 edge on the boards as Davis led the way on the boards with six and added two assists to pull within two of the school's all-time assist mark.
 
CSU Pueblo will look to rebound on Saturday, Feb. 4 as they complete their current three-game road trip with a 5:30 p.m. game in Alamosa, Colo., against Adams State. Adams State picked up a 75-68 home win on Friday over New Mexico Highlands.