Jason Flores issued a challenge to his senior players.
He asked them to play tougher after two tough road losses at UC-Colorado Springs and CSU-Pueblo last weekend.
When it mattered most, his seniors answered the challenge in an overtime game at Metro State on Friday at the Auraria Events Center in Denver.
Trailing by one point with just more than 12 seconds left in overtime, senior guard Ashley Kuchar hit a layup with 12 seconds remaining to give the Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team an 89-88 lead.
Amy Nelson of Metro State (11-12, 10-9 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) missed a jump shot, and Skyhawks’ senior center Christie Groh collected the rebound to seal the road victory for FLC (14-9, 11-8 RMAC).
“It was a huge win and entertaining game,” Flores said. “This week, we talked about the seniors stepping up. We had all the faith in the world they would bounce back after last weekend’s games. They played big and came ready to go.”
Kuchar struggled much of the game as she finished with 11 points and eight assists on 4-of-14 shooting from the field and 1-of-6 shooting from behind the 3-point line. She had an opportunity to end the game in regulation but saw a 3-point shot go in and out with the game tied 76-76.
“Her shots weren’t going in, but they weren’t off by much. She was close to having a really big game, but she went the distance and had eight assists to only two turnovers, and she made the shot when we needed it,” Flores said.
Groh and her fellow FLC senior, Erika Richards, both had career nights offensively. Groh finished with a game-high 29 points, while Richards finished with 27 points. Groh shot 13-of-17 from the field and 1-of-2 from 3-point range; Richards shot 11-of-18 from the field and 4-of-7 from behind the 3-point line.
“We had good execution and ball movement to get (Groh) going inside. She had to play big minutes with our other posts in foul trouble, and she gave us all we needed,” Flores said. “Richards had another big game. Having the team shoot 53 percent on the road was night and day from last week.”
FLC led the majority of the game until Metro State took a 55-54 lead five minutes into the second half. The game was back-and-forth from there with the lead changing 13 times.
A Richards 3-pointer tied the game 73-73 with 2 minutes, 5 seconds left in regulation. The Roadrunners reclaimed a 76-73 lead with less than a minute left, but FLC sophomore guard Michelle Turner stepped into a 26-foot 3-point shot and buried it to tie the game with 24 seconds left.
“She got a shot through our team executing the offense. She picked her spot and got a rhythm 3 and hit it in a big moment,” Flores said.
In overtime, the two teams continued to exchange blows before Kuchar’s eventual game-winning layup.
The FLC win and a Black Hills State 73-61 loss to CSU-Pueblo gave the Skyhawks sole possession of fourth place in the RMAC standings. They will have a chance to get back into third place Saturday night at third-place Regis (14-9, 12-7 RMAC).
“We can’t scoreboard watch. We have to take care of our own business from here on out,” Flores said. “We have to win games; everything else will take care of itself.”
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
