Adams State made the Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team play its style of game Saturday.
FLC just played it better.
FLC (10-7, 7-6 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) ground out a 64-52 win over the Grizzlies for its second consecutive victory.
The Skyhawks held Adams State (7-11, 3-10 RMAC) to 31.9 percent shooting and forced 14 turnovers to push their conference record above .500.
“I think we did get into the tempo of their game,” FLC head coach Jason Flores said. “The thing with them you have to be careful with is they’re going to milk possessions, and a lot of times you’re going into the last 10 seconds (of the shot clock). You can’t foul them in that situation, and that’s something we did a poor job of.”
The Skyhawks committed 24 fouls that led to 28 Adams State free throws. The Grizzlies made 19 of them, which is as many as FLC attempted.
FLC countered Adams State’s defensive pressure by pounding the ball inside both through drives and post-ups, shooting 51.1 percent in the game.
The Skyhawks controlled the paint with 28 points in the paint and outrebounded Adams State 33-25.
Mary Brinton led the Skyhawks with 16 points off the bench.
“Our guards are doing a good job turning around the perimeter, and that just opens me up,” Brinton said. “I’m able to bury in (the paint) a lot easier.”
The Pagosa Springs High School alumna played 23 minutes because foul trouble limited Christie Groh to 15 minutes.
Groh still scored 10 points, one of four ’Hawks in double figures.
FLC opened the second half on a 10-3 run after leading 30-29 at the break.
Kaile Magazzeni gave the Skyhawks their first double-digit lead 54-44 with a made free throw with 6 minutes, 44 seconds remaining.
Tessie Pikula scored 14 points to lead Adams State.
FLC will play its next two games at home, which gives the Skyhawks a chance to continue climbing the RMAC standings.
“You’re never disappointed with a win,” Flores said. “There’s things we could have done better that we didn’t. We got a double-digit win, and we’re happy with that. We’ve got to keep climbing into next weekend and stay in the hunt for that home game (in the first round of the RMAC Tournament).”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
