GUNNISON, Colo.— Junior guard Vera Jo Bustos (Las Vegas, N.M.) scored 24 points for the second straight game while reserve Paige Ricker (Colorado Springs, Colo.) provided a big spark off the bench nailing all three of her 3-pointers en-route to a career-high 15 points as the regionally-ranked Adams State College Grizzly women’s basketball team came from as many as 13 points down early in the night to post a comfortable 75-61 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference win over arch-rival Western State College, Friday night here in the Mountaineers Paul W. Wright Gymnasium.
The Grizzlies, who started a 4-game road trip with the victory, have now won four straight and nine of their last 10 games while improving to 16-3 overall and to 10-2 in the RMAC. The Mountaineers, who jumped out to a 16-3 lead in the game’s first seven minutes fell to 8-12 overall and to 6-6 in league play.
The Grizzlies got into foul trouble early as both Kendra Coveal (Albuquerque, N.M.) and Kelsie Kruger (Alamosa, Colo.) picked up two fouls in the first 3:08 of the game received some solid play from the bench as Ricker, who had scored just 13 total points in her last seven games, tallied 10 points in the first half alone as the bench led ASC’s charge back.
After falling behind, the Grizzlies went on 18-4 run over the next 8:27 to take a 21-20 lead on Ricker’s first 3-pointer.
The Mountaineers, who had four different players in double-figures, would come back to go on top 32-28. However, Ricker hit another trey as the Grizzlies went back on top while going into the break with a slight 35-34 lead.
Leading by that same 1-point margin early in the second half, the Grizzlies then used another Ricker 3-pointer to go up 49-41 before they gradually extended their lead to as many as 20 points with 5:39 to go.
The Grizzlies, who are ranked third in the NCAA Division II Central Regional poll for the second straight week, also received a solid effort from senior point guard Misti Solomon (Snowflake, Ariz.) who tallied a season-high 16 points. She also had four steals.
Ricker and Bustos, who made 4 of her 8 3-point attempts, finished the night with six rebounds each as the Grizzlies, the top rebounding team in the country, posted a 39-27 advantage on the boards.
The Grizzlies also dominated the outside shooting game hitting 50.0 percent (26-52) of their field goal attempts and a season-high nine 3-pointers on just 15 attempts (60.0 percent). The defense was also there as they held the Mountaineers to a 32.8 percent (19-58) shooting effort and to just a pair of 3-pointers on 14 attempts (14.3 percent).
Reigning RMAC West Division Player of the Week Amber Murray led the Mountaineer attack with 13 points on a 4-for-12 shooting effort. Katie Hall and Kristen Forbes also tallied 10 points each while Brooke Pendergraft added 10. However, the rest of the Mountaineers combined for just 14 points.
“I thought we weathered the storm in the first half. We got in serious foul trouble. We had to respond and we did,” said Grizzly coach Kelly Kruger in a post-game radio interview.
“We got a big lift off the bench from Paige and some good minutes from Crystal Loch (Alamosa, Colo.), Ruchelle McCracken (Frankston, Victoria, Australia) and Marissa Peterson (Santa Fe, N.M.),” Kruger continued.
“She (Ricker) played really composed and the kids off the bench did a great job,” he also noted about Ricker who committed just one turnover while canning 6 of 8 shots from the field.”
The Grizzlies, who are just one spot out of the nation’s top 25 according to this week’s USA Today/ESPN/Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Poll, can seal up a RMAC Shootout bid as early as Saturday night when they continue the road trip at Mesa State (7-12, 4-8 RMAC), which fell 63-37 at home to No. 6 Fort Lewis (21-2, 11-1 RMAC) on Friday. The Grizzlies, who still have seven conference games and eight overall left on their regular season slate, would seal up a conference tournament spot with a win over the Mavericks and a Western New Mexico (4-14, 4-8 RMAC) loss at New Mexico Highlands (8-11, 3-9 RMAC).
Tip-off is at 5 p.m., an hour earlier than normal, and can be heard live on KSPK-FM (104.1 in Alamosa) and via the internet at www.kspk.com.