After a tough road trip to Grand Junction and Gunnison over the weekend, the Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team had to regroup in a hurry for Tuesday night’s road matchup with Adams State. The Skyhawks were up to the challenge, though.
Fort Lewis (7-2, 3-2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) was sloppy at times but still controlled all facets of the game against a struggling, last-place Grizzlies team. FLC outrebounded the opponent 50-31, outscored the Grizzlies in the paint 32-14 and ran wild on the fast break with a 14-0 advantage en route to a 63-48 win.
Alyssa Yocky had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while offensive machine Briana Clah led the way again with 15 points thanks to a hot start. Shelby Patterson also scored in double figures with 12 points for FLC.
“This was a tough one for us for a few reasons,” Fort Lewis head coach Jason Flores said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “Having three road games in five nights is a challenge. On top of that, it’s right in the middle of finals week, so there was definitely some adversity, which is probably why we were sloppier than usual.”
Though the Skyhawks turned the ball over an uncharacteristic 28 times, they never trailed. FLC held a 14-7 lead after the opening quarter behind swarming defense in the first 10 minutes, and instant offense from Clah, who had eight of the team’s 14 first quarter points.
The Grizzlies opened the second quarter with tough defense of their own. FLC was held scoreless for over five minutes to start the second quarter as the home team slowly crawled back. Though Adams State never tied the game, the Grizzlies (1-7, 0-5 RMAC) cut the deficit to one point with a 6-0 run to start the frame.
The Skyhawks’ response was a game changer.
FLC ran off a 14-2 run to take a double-digit lead into halftime at 31-19.
In the second half, Adams State did well to get back within single digits a few times, but the Skyhawks’ defense was too stingy for the Grizzlies to recover from the late second-quarter run.
“It’s a tough environment, and their record might not indicate it, but Adams State does some things we just don’t see a lot,” Flores said. “They really space you out and play an extended zone on defense. A win is a win, though. We’ll just be happy to get home, get some studying in, and hopefully be ready to play this weekend.”
Fort Lewis will host Westminster (4-4, 2-2 RMAC) at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
jfries@durangoherald.com
