It’s unlikely Fort Lewis College basketball fans will see a better performance inside Whalen Gymnasium than Morning Grace Spotted Bear’s. She led South Dakota Mines women’s basketball to an 88-74 win over the Skyhawks on Thursday night.
Spotted Bear was unstoppable for a team that came into the game 2-11 overall. She used her 6-foot frame and long arms to dominate inside the paint with ease on offense. She used her long arms to get into passing lanes and disrupt FLC’s offense.
She finished with 32 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and six steals as the Hardrockers finished the game on a 20-6 run to beat an FLC team that was coming off arguably its best game of the season against Westminster.
“All year, we've been pressing for us to score,” FLC head coach Lauren Zuniga said. “So now we're finally scoring and our defense, I suppose, has taken a back seat. I guess maybe as a staff, we need to do a better job with the personnel of the other team. When you let their three leading scorers get double or triple what they normally score on an average night, you're not going to win any games.”
FLC fell to 5-10 overall and 2-5 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play after it shot 44% from the field, 25% from 3-point range and 86% from the free-throw line.
Junior guard Deniece Ryan led FLC with 18 points on 9-17 shooting from the field and 0-3 from 3-point range. Senior guard Livia Knapp had 16 points on 7-16 shooting from the field and 2-4 from 3-point range. Senior forward Darla Hernandez and freshman guard Katie Lamb each finished with 13 points.
SDM improved to 3-11 overall and 3-4 in the RMAC after it shot 49% from the field, 32% from 3-point range and 76% from the free-throw line. The Hardrockers’ 88 points were the most FLC’s given up in a game this year.
Spotted Bear finished 12-16 from the field and 8-8 from the free-throw line. Piper Bauer also had a fantastic game for the Hardrockers and finished with 27 points on 7-15 shooting from the field, 5-11 from 3-point range and 8-10 from the free-throw line.
“Credit to her because she was so efficient making everything,” Zuniga said about Spotted Bear. “Discredit to us, because we didn't make anything difficult for her. Good players are going make plays, but you have to at least make it hard or make it something that she normally doesn't get.”
Neither team could miss from anywhere on the court in the first quarter. CSM had a 15-8 lead, but FLC battled back with some jump shots from Knapp. A Lamb 3-pointer cut the Hardrockers’ lead to 21-20 with 2:08 left in the first. But FLC couldn’t stop SDM’s shooting. A layup by sophomore guard Natalie Guanella cut the Hardrockers’ lead to 26-23 at the end of the first.
FLC took its first lead of the game early in the second quarter with a Lamb layup to put FLC up 29-28 with 7:23 to go. FLC continued to get to the basket with multiple layups from Knapp and Ryan while SDM continued to fire from deep.
“In the first quarter and really a lot of the game, we were just kind of settling for jumpers and 3-pointers when Deniece (Ryan) is really good at getting to the basket and so is Liv (Knapp); Darla (Hernandez) is being efficient,” Zuniga said. “We just really wanted to continue to try to focus on paint touches and we had more points in the paint than them, which is a positive,”
SDM found some success in the middle of the quarter inside either in transition or off offensive rebounds. FLC’s lack of size showed as SDM didn’t have much difficulty finishing. A free throw by Hernandez with 17 seconds left made it 46-40 at halftime.
FLC continued to have no answer on the glass. SDM got second chances at will. A Spotted Bear putback gave the Hardrockers a 59-49 lead with 4:33 left in the third.
Turnovers were crucial to FLC cutting the deficit at the end of the third quarter. FLC trapped and turned over SDM multiple times, leading to easy transition buckets for the Skyhawks. FLC trailed 61-57 after three quarters.
“We executed our defensive scheme,” Zuniga said about the third-quarter success. “When we're running our matchup zone, we want to be getting deflections and active. In the first two quarters, we weren't, but in the third quarter, we were.”
A Knapp 3-pointer cut SDM’s lead to 65-64 with 7:10 left. FLC was very active on defense with swarming pressure in the half-court to disrupt SDM’s rhythm. FLC took its first lead of the fourth, 66-65, with some free throws from senior forward Eva Kingston with five minutes left. The Skyhawks’ pressure stopped Spotted Bear from being as efficient inside in the middle of the fourth.
FLC’s swarming pressure was high risk, high reward. If the Skyhawks didn’t get steals in their matchup zone, shooters were likely open for SDM. Bauer hit two 3-pointers in 90 seconds to give SDM a 73-68 lead with 3:32 left.
Four sloppy turnovers plagued the Skyhawks’ offense in the last four minutes. When they weren’t turning the ball over, Ryan used her quickness to blow past her defender and get to the basket. But Spotting Bear’s presence was too much in the end. A layup by her put SDM up 79-74 with 1:18 left.
“We were panicking under pressure … as a staff, I take the full blame for that because I need to put the right people in the right positions,” Zuniga said. “It's obviously something we've overlooked in practice, that we need to practice more.”
The Skyhawks play Black Hills State on Saturday at home at 1 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com