The 16th ranked Fort Lewis College women’s basketball team demolished the Adams State Grizzlies on the Tuesday night of finals week, 82-45.
Both teams were playing their third game in the last five days after they both played Friday and Saturday night this past weekend, where FLC went 2-0 and ASU went 0-2.
For FLC, being home for the last three games days was a huge advantage.
“It helps because it takes the stress away from traveling,” FLC senior guard Shelby Patterson said. “You’re in your own bed and you have your family so it is just a comfort thing.”
“Last year was terrible,” FLC head coach Jason Flores said. “We were having to reschedule finals and in the big scheme of things you shouldn’t have to do that.”
FLC came into the game as the second highest scoring team in the RMAC with 70.3 points per game, while ASU is the worst team in the RMAC in terms of record and scoring defense, allowing a whopping 71 PPG.
This game was slaughter from the opening tip. Adams State never held a lead and was down by double digits from the four minute mark in the first quarter on.
FLC went into halftime with a 45-18 lead. They were shooting 50 percent from the floor and held ASU to 26.9 percent in the first half. FLC shot much better in this game, finishing with 46.3percent, then they did in their two contests this past weekend, where they shot a mere 34 and 39 percent.
FLC’s lead in kept growing in the second half as they came out of halftime on a 7-0 run right off the bat. Skyhawk stars Astrea Reed and Vivian Gray were done after the third quarter. Reed finished the game with 16 points on 7-8 shooting in 15 minutes of playing time and Gray contributed 10 points, six assists, four blocks, and six boards in 17 minutes.
“My teammates just made it really easy for me,” Reed said. “A lot of times inside, and even the guards when they drive, they would get two or three other defenders, allowing me to have a pretty wide open shot.”
Patterson was second in scoring with 14 and senior guard Briana Clah contributed nine points.
The Skyhawks played smothering defense throughout the game as they forced Adams to commit 26 turnovers and turned that into 37 points of their own on the other end.
Adams’ freshman guard Trinity Betoney led the team in scoring with 11 points.
Ball movement was huge for the Skyhawks as they accumulated 23 assists on 31 made field goals.
“It was great,” Flores said. “What I loved was our ball movement. There was a few possessions where it wasn’t just one extra pass, it was two or three.”
FLC has destroyed teams in the first and third quarters of games this year and continued that trend today. For the season, the Skyhawks are outscoring opponents in the first quarter 163-124 and in the third quarter 161-108. In this game against ASU, the spread in those quarters was 23-7 and 22-7 respectively.
“I think it is just a natural assumption that we all know that needs to happen or else we will be behind and it is hard to catch up,” Reed said. “So we start strong and aggressive and we attack so it’s an easier game that way.”
Looking forward, this win puts FLC at 9-1 (4-1 in RMAC) going into a matchup with Westminster, 3-5 (2-2), in Utah on Friday night. Adams State falls to 2-5 (0-5) this season with their only two wins coming against NAIA opponents.
“They are really dangerous on their home floor,” Flores said of Westminster. “Really good offensive team. They spread you out and give you lots of different looks. They test you with your defensive principles, I guess is the best way to say it. We are going to have to be really strong across the board because they wait for that one mess up and they hit you with it.”