SPEARFISH, S.D.—The Black Hills State University women's basketball team's 75-30 victory over Adams State last night put them in a three-way tie with Colorado Mines and CSU-Pueblo for first place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings. Fort Lewis College awaited BHSU at the Young Center Saturday evening. 

The Skyhawks climbed to seventh place in the RMAC following a 75-69 OT win at South Dakota Mines last night. A Yellow Jacket victory mixed with other RMAC upsets can result in an outright first place standing. The green and gold controlled their own destiny in a 74-71 victory over the Skyhawks. 

The Yellow Jackets improve to 17-4, 14-3 RMAC while Fort Lewis falls to 13-9, 9-8 RMAC.

Yellow Jackets 74, Fort Lewis 71

BHSU held the Fort Lewis starting lineup to only six points in the first half. However, the Fort Lewis bench picked up the slack. Taylor Trohkimoinen notched two free throws and a jumper to pace the Yellow Jackets' 11-1 run to open the contest.

Dallas Dickerson and Syndni Brandon each registered two free throws off the bench for Fort Lewis to narrow the Skyhawk deficit to 13-9 with 3:56 left in the first quarter. Kate Bayes broke the scoring drought for the Skyhawk starting lineup when she drained a free throw at the 1:54 mark of the first to narrow their deficit to 16-12. 

Brandon prevailed for Fort Lewis when she drained a jumper from the right hash at the first quarter buzzer, which made the score 19-17.  BHSU held a one-point lead on two occasions before Trohkimoinen found her stroke. She responded with a three-pointer and back-to-back field goals to give BHSU a 30-22 lead at the 4:29 mark of the second quarter.

The Fort Lewis starting lineup scored all points in the third quarter that propelled them to a 48-48 tie with 1:45 left. Trohkimoinen and Dickerson traded three-pointers to tie the game 51-51 after the third quarter.

Kylie Santos's three-pointer at the 9:25 mark of the fourth quarter gave Fort Lewis a 54-51 lead.  The Yellow Jackets tied the game twice before Bailey Kusser's back-to-back three-pointers gave them a 64-58 lead. It was enough cushion to secure a 74-71 BHSU victory.

Trohkimoinen led all scorers with 19 points. Kusser added 12 while Thorn chipped in 10. 

The Yellow Jackets will return to action on Friday, February 12 against Colorado Mesa. Game time is set for 5:30 p.m.