Scott Kretzmann
ASC Sports Information
With a 20-point second-half performance from senior guard Vera Jo Bustos who was playing back in her hometown for the final time in her collegiate career, the Adams State women’s basketball team shot 57.1 percent (28-49) from the field in a convincing 77-60 win over Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) foe New Mexico Highlands Friday evening.
The Grizzlies 51.7 percent accuracy from the field was their second best of the season, and best since shooting 58.3 percent (35-60) from the field in an 82-47 over Northern New Mexico on Nov. 19.
Just as impressive was the ASC defensive effort, which held the Cowgirls to 8-of-28 (28.6 percent) from the field in the first half, and allowed the Grizzlies to take a 33-24 into the break.
Sophomore Deanna Reich led Adams State with nine points at the break on 4-of-4 from the field. Reich would end the game with a career-high 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting while playing a career-best 34 minutes and tallying all three of the Grizzlies’ steals.
Right behind Reich in the opening stanza, Kruger was good for eight points en route to a game total of 12.
After a slow first half in which she hit just three field goals, Bustos found her groove in the second half, making good on 6-of-9 attempts from the field, including three 3-pointers and 5-of-6 chances from the charity stripe. Her 27 points was her second-best total of the season, only behind her ASC Division II-era record (1992-93/present) 36 points against Drury (Mo.) on Nov. 26.
A Bustos three with 18 minutes, 57 seconds left in the game gave ASC its first double-digit lead of the night, and the Grizzlies wouldn’t let the advantage sink below nine points for the remainder of the game.
Senior Kendra Coveal recorded her 10th consecutive game of scoring in double-figures, coming alive in the second half and dumping in 10 points after the break to raise her game total to 14. Coveal went 4-of-6 from the field in the final 20 minutes, part of a 60.0 percent (15-25) second half for the Green & White.
Adams State was dominant on the boards, outrebounding the Cowgirls 44-25. ASC’s plus-19 effort on the glass was the fourth-best of the season for the Grizzlies, and comes after their two lowest rebounding margins of the season in losses to Metro State and Fort Lewis.
On Saturday, Kruger scored a career-best 24 points, a total that was matched by Bustos, as both ended with double-doubles to lead the Grizzlies to a 70-52 victory in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) play over Western New Mexico on Saturday evening.
The win, which completed Adams States’ season sweep of New Mexico opponents, improves the Grizzlies to 14-8 overall and 9-7 in league play. ASC still stands at seventh-place in the RMAC standings, just ½ game back of Nebraska-Kearney in sixth, but is now 2 ½ games up on Western State in the eighth spot with a 7-10 league mark.
Adams State led by just three (27-24) at the break after the Mustangs closed out the first half on a 9-2 run to eat away at what was an ASC 10-point lead. WNMU’s Jaleesa Russell capped off the Mustang’s late surge, hitting a jumper with 2 minutes, 39 seconds left until the break, and neither team would score the rest of the half.
But ASC, which would shoot an astounding 70.8 percent (17-24) from the field in the second half, would quickly re-establish control out of the locker room.
Bustos scored eight points, including hitting two her three second half 3-pointers, as the Grizzlies started the second half on their own run, outscoring the Mustangs 16-4 to take a 15-point lead (43-28) with 13:36 to play.
WNMU kept the game close in the first half despite shooting just 29.4 percent (10-34) from the field thanks to connecting on four triples while the Grizzlies were unable to bucket any of their seven first half attempts from long range.
The second half saw the Grizzlies fire up from beyond the arc, hitting 5-of-7 (71.4 percent) 3-pointers, as junior Briana Benjamin added a pair to go with Bustos’ three.
Kruger led ASC over the first 20, scoring 10 points on 4-of-6 from the field, and would only miss one field goal in the second half (10-of-13, 76.9 percent for the game) en route to besting her previous career-high of 21. By adding 12 rebounds, Kruger notched her fifth double-double of the season.
Kruger was also responsible for the game’s first basket, 1:17 into the evening’s action, and allowed the Grizzlies to never trail the Mustangs.
For Bustos, the double-double was her first of the season as she grabbed a season-best 10 boards. She would also make her mark on the game with four assists, three blocks and two steals.
Senior Ruchelle McCracken flirted with a double-double, grabbing the necessary 10 boards but fell just short with eight points in the game while playing a career-high 39 minutes.
ASC will open its four-game home stand with UC-Colorado Springs on Friday, Feb. 11, and then host Colorado St.-Pueblo on Saturday, Feb. 12.
The Grizzlies earned their first conference win of the season against the Mountain Lions, taking a 76-61 victory after having fallen to CSU-Pueblo in their RMAC opener one night earlier on Dec. 3.
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