After being down by 22 points in the third quarter at Adams State, Fort Lewis women’s basketball came roaring back with strong 3-point shooting to get back into the game to start the fourth quarter. Then, it wasn’t a game.
FLC scored its last points with 5:43 left in the game. After that, Adams State went on a 13-0 run to cruise to a 79-60 win on Thursday night.
“I’m super proud of the fight to cut it (Adams State’s lead),” FLC head coach Lauren Zuniga said. “It could have gone one of two ways. It’s proof that we can hang with them and we can score. We've been talking about building what we want to build and trying to build winning habits. For them just to see that they can cut it to that, I'm much more impressed with just their grit and their fight than I am the end of the game score.”
The Skyhawks fell to 3-7 overall and 1-3 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference after they shot 34% from the field, 33% from the 3-point line and 92% from the free-throw line in the loss.
Senior guard Livia Knapp had one of her best games as a Skyhawk with 18 points on 7-15 shooting overall, 2-7 from 3-point range and 2-2 from the free-throw line. Junior guard Deniece Ryan had 15 points on 6-13 shooting overall, 1-1 from 3-point range and 2-2 from the free-throw line. Freshman guard Katie Lamb finished with 14 points on 4-11 shooting overall, 4-10 from 3-point range and 2-2 from the free-throw line for FLC.
Adams State improved to 7-5 overall and 2-1 in the RMAC after it shot 53% from the field, 33% from 3-point range and 82% from the free-throw line in the win.
Angelline Nageak led the Grizzlies with 22 points on 7-14 shooting overall, 2-5 from 3-point range and 6-6 from the free-throw line. She also had five assists and six steals. Taejhuan Hill had 15 points on 5-10 shooting overall and 5-5 from the free-throw line for the Grizzlies.
Adams State pulled away from FLC late in the first quarter. The Skyhawks had trouble finishing inside while Adams State had the size and passing to finish inside. FLC also struggled with turnovers.
The Grizzlies caused problems for FLC from beyond the arc with their tall 3-point shooters who could shoot over the top of Skyhawk defenders without a lot of space. Adams State center Christabel Longe had eight points in the first quarter on 3-3 shooting overall and 2-2 from 3-point range. Adams State shot 71% in the first quarter and led FLC 26-15.
“That's something we looked at halftime,” Zuniga said about Adam State’s shooting. “It just came down to them shooting a better percentage than us. But it wasn't necessarily that we weren't getting the same shots. We had the same exact shot attempts at the half. We had the same exact free-throw attempts at the half. They were just making them. They haven't shot that well all year, so credit to them.”
Senior forward Darla Hernandez got some touches around the free-throw line but couldn’t convert. Hernandez finished the game 1-10 overall for two points with six turnovers.
Adams State continued to find its way inside and a spin and score by Longe put Adams State 36-19 with five minutes to go in the second quarter.
The Skyhawks started to get their offense going late in the second quarter with some jump shots by Lamb and Knapp. But Adams State continued to score and took a 46-28 lead into halftime.
Adams State grew its lead to 54-32 early in the third quarter with some good finishes inside and in the midrange.
But FLC cut into Adams State’s lead with some 3-pointers by Lamb and Knapp. The Skyhawks played a smaller lineup with senior forward Eva Kingston at the five. They forced Adams State to shoot 3-pointers and the Grizzlies missed. The Skyhawks went on a 13-0 run to cut the deficit to 54-45 with three minutes to go in the third.
FLC finished the third quarter strong with some good dribble penetration and kick outs to open looks from downtown. Knapp hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 58-53 after three quarters.
A Ryan stepback 3-pointer and a floater in transition cut the Grizzlies lead to 60-58 with seven minutes to go. Then FLC’s offense went colder than a night up at the North Pole.
FLC didn’t have the same spacing and ball movement with Hernandez at the five compared to Kingston. The Skyhawks turned the ball over, missed layups, or were blocked. Those turnovers led to transition buckets for Adams State. The Grizzlies’ guards also found their bigs in the paint for easy layups.
The Skyhawks hit the road to face Northern New Mexico on Dec. 20 at 4 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
