DURANGO, Colorado — The Fort Lewis College women's basketball team was able to take a collective exhale Friday evening. From exhaustion and relief as the Skyhawks gritted out an 88-85 triple-overtime victory over Adams State; the longest game played (overtime periods) in program history, according to available records.
Fort Lewis (5-9 overall, 5-9 RMAC), which led by as many as 17 in the third quarter Friday, were able to overcome a late surge from the visiting Grizzlies (3-8 overall, 3-8 RMAC), who took the first meeting between the two teams on Tuesday by a 70-55 final.
"The biggest thing for us was we kept fighting and stuck together," said FLC head coach
Orlando Griego. "Ultimately, it was a long game. We're going to need a lot of ice for a lot of players. But we're very happy we won the game."
Sophomore forward
Jordan Vasquez earned her ice packs Friday as she played nearly 52 minutes, recording her third straight double-double — fifth double-double of the season — with a career-high 29 points and 15 rebounds.
In two meetings against ASU this season, Vasquez has averaged 28 points and 12.5 rebounds. Four of her biggest points of the night came in the triple overtime period, including a short jumper in the lane with 1:26 remaining that gave FLC breathing room at 84-80.
"I had so much adrenaline. Third overtime? Alright, let's go," Vasquez said. "Those overtime minutes, I really don't feel it during the game because there's so much adrenaline. It's exciting. That's what we want. We want to play basketball and we got to today."
Vasquez was one of four Skyhawks to finish in double-figures Friday, joined by a trio of seniors in
Sydney Candelaria (14 points),
Bailey Osmer (12 points) and
Katrina Chandler (11 points), while fellow senior
Chloe Warrington and sophomore
Alison Chanhthala each added nine.
Candelaria, still battling a nagging back injury, added a season-high seven rebounds, four assists and two steals in her 47 minutes, while Osmer added eight board and Chandler dished out a team-high seven assists.
Fort Lewis bolted out of the gate Friday, building a 43-36 lead at the half and extending its advantage to 53-36 at the 6:23 mark of the third quarter.
Adams State climbed back into the game from beyond the 3-point line, making a season-high 16 long balls (16-of-42, 38.1%) and capitalizing on 14 second-half turnovers for the Skyhawks to pull back even for the first time since 0-0 at 65-65 with 1:04 remaining to set the stage for the three-overtime thriller.
"It looked like we were a little tired, a little gassed. We came out that first half with really good energy and it was hard for us to match that in the third and fourth quarters," Griego said.
FLC finished the evening 29-of-60 (48.3%) from the field, 7-of-19 (36.8%) from beyond the 3-point line and had its best game of the season at the free-throw line, cashing in a season-high 23 free throws on 31 attempts (74.2%).
The Skyhawks will look to rest, recover and sweep the weekend with a 4 p.m. matchup against CSU Pueblo on Saturday in what will be Senior Night inside of Whalen Gymnasium.
