Box score

ALAMOSA, Colo. — The Fort Lewis women's basketball team forced 24 turnovers and limited Adams State to 34.7 percent shooting in a 66-46 win tonight in Plachy Hall.
 
“The story was our defense,” said first-year FLC head coach Jason Flores, whose team improved to 10-8 overall, 9-5 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. “In the second half, we were just really focused and locked into how we wanted to defend certain players and try to put them in a (tough) position to score. Holding a team to just 46 points on the road – it's a great effort.”
 
While the Skyhawks were strong defensively in the first half — FLC took a 32-27 lead into the locker room — that intensity was turned up a few notches in the second stanza, as the Grizzlies (7-11, 4-10) scored just 19 points.
 
“That led into our offensive rhythm,” said Flores. “We got into a really good stretch of attacking, moving the ball inside and outside, hitting shots … the game became really fun at that point.”
 
Katerina Garcia led the Skyhawks with 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field. She made three out of four from behind the arc and shared the team rebounding lead with five caroms.
 
“We started a little bit slow,” said Flores. “Give them (ASU) credit for that part. Kat was playing well and kind of spark-plugged us to get our tempo going a little bit. Then we just all fell into rhythm.”
 
Erika Richards was the only other Skyhawk in double digits, going 9-of-13 from the field en route to 19 points. She also had a team-high four assists.
 
Fort Lewis shot 47.3 percent from the field (26 of 55) and outrebounded the Grizzlies 34-31.
 
The Skyhawks notched 15 steals, including three each by Garcia, Richards and Alex Easterbrook.
 
Adams State was led by Ann Pauly (11 points) and Kelly Hernandez (10).
 
The Grizzlies made just 17 of 49 field goal attempts and hit only four three-pointers.
 
“It was a good effort on the road tonight,” summarized Flores. “A 20-point win on the road … we're really happy with that. We want to keep that going as we head into next week.”
 
Fort Lewis makes its annual trek to the Land of Enchantment next weekend, where it will face Western New Mexico (3-16, 2-13) at 5:30 p.m. Friday and New Mexico Highlands (4-15, 4-11) at 6 p.m. Saturday.
 
The Skyhawks met their two New Mexico foes last month in Whalen Gymnasium, beating the Mustangs 66-37 on Jan. 12 and the Cowgirls 78-58 a day earlier.