Overtime quickly became Erika Richards time.
The Fort Lewis College senior scored eight of her game-high 25 points after regulation in leading the FLC women’s basketball team to a 78-76 win over St. Edward’s on Friday in Whalen Gymnasium.
Richards made a jumper with 30 seconds remaining to put FLC (3-1) up 78-76, and St. Edward’s Haley Meekins couldn’t connect to send the game to a second overtime.
“Kind of just in the flow of the offense, just my shots that I took, I thought, ‘gotta make these,’” Richards said.
She made 4-of-4 shots from the field as the Skyhawks hit 5-of-7 in the extra frame.
The Skyhawks thought they wouldn’t need overtime after Michelle Turner hit a 3-pointer with 25.9 seconds left to put her team up by three.
Peri Ewin had other ideas.
She rebounded Maddie Wheeler’s miss with 14 seconds left and buried a three from the right wing to send the game to overtime.
“It’s always deflating when you give up a three to go into overtime,” FLC head coach Jason Flores said. “Regrouping, obviously, was important. I credit our toughness.”
FLC needed it.
St. Edward’s (7-1) led 50-43 with 12:31 remaining in the second half after Ewin made a three.
The Skyhawks then outscored the Hilltoppers 24-17 for the remainder of the second half.
They also had to erase a four-point halftime deficit despite leading by six with 16:49 remaining in the first half.
FLC controlled the paint throughout the game, outscoring St. Edward’s 28-17 in the paint and 15-9 on second-chance points while pulling down 50 rebounds compared to the Hilltoppers’ 40.
“We definitely tried to look inside a lot,” FLC forward Christie Groh said. “We were trying to get to the basket and be aggressive.”
Groh finished with 19 points and eight rebounds in the game.
Mary Brinton picked up a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Nearly two weeks had passed since the Skyhawks’ last game, and they used that time to shore up one of their major weaknesses – free throw shooting.
FLC entered the game making 61.7 percent from the charity stripe and hit 79.2 percent Friday.
“We’ve been doing a lot more free throw shooting just because we had time,” Flores said. “A lot of times you can’t do that if you have short weeks.”
With their non-conference slate now done, the Skyhawks prepare to begin Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play Dec. 6 against UC-Colorado Springs and CSU-Pueblo.
The Mountain Lions will enter Friday’s game 1-3 while the ThunderWolves are 3-2.
“We’re going to get more out of these games then we would scheduling somebody where you can beat them by a big number,” Flores said. “That sometimes doesn’t do much for you and for a team.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
