The Fort Lewis women’s basketball team shot 43 free throws on Friday against Adams State University, but struggled at the line and only made 23. Trailing by 2 points with 15 seconds left, FLC went to the free-throw line twice, but missed all four shots, and Adams prevailed in the back-and-forth battle, 64-62.
FLC trailed 11-1 after missing five of their first six free throws, but then went on an 11-1 run of their own with Alyssa Adams making two free throws and a 3-pointer. The teams were tied 16-16 after one, but Adams State went back up by 10, 34-24 in the second.
Fort Lewis managed to cut the lead to five at halftime, 34-29, with Sydney Candelaria scoring seven late points.
FLC came out with more energy in the second half, opening the third quarter on a 10-1 run to take the lead.
The Skyhawks had a 6-point lead in the fourth, but Adams Sate went on an 8-0 run. The teams traded the lead a couple of times after that. Kelsey Sorenson made four free throws in a row to tie it at 60-60 and then grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on the putback to give FLC a 62-60 lead with a little over a minute left.
Adams State tied it with 1:04 left with two free throws. Alyssa Adams had a chance to put the pressure on Adams State from the line with 15 seconds left but was off target.
Kayla Harris of Adams State managed to push a field goal in with 1.1 seconds left.
Trailing 64-62, FLC caught a break when the Grizzlies fouled as FLC was trying an inbound pass. Ava Strange went to the line with 1.1 seconds left but missed and Adams State took the win.
“This was an exciting game to be a part of because it felt like a tournament game,” said FLC head coach Taylor Harris. “This is a team that can play with anybody, and we encountered so much adversity for the second night in a row. We played hard, we played together, and we showed what our culture is truly about.”
Adams State also struggled from the free-throw line, making only 12 of 23 attempts. Most of its misses, however, would have merely extended its lead.
Candelaria scored 20 points to lead all players. Sorenson scored 19, Claudia Vidal added 8, Adams scored 5, Brooke McGee added four, and Jana Conejero and Ember Cervantes each scored three. Cervantes also had a team-high three steals.
Harris scored 16 to lead Adams while Kaitlyn Bell added 13 and Elaina Watson scored 11.
FLC is now 2-14 overall and 1-9 in the RMAC. Adams improved to 8-9, 6-6.
Fort Lewis will play two games on the road this week, taking on Colorado Mesa University (11-3, 6-3) Friday and Westminster College (9-5, 8-2) Saturday.
