Women's Basketball | 1/12/2017 9:26:00 AM

THE GAME - Fort Lewis

• The two teams meet for the fifth time on the hardwood with a tip off scheduled for 5:30 p.m. BHSU leads in the all-time series, 3-1.
• Briana Clah and Alyssa Yocky are the top leaders for Fort Lewis. Clah is the leading scorer averaging 15.1 points per game while Yocky is right behind averaging 11.9 points per game. Yocky leads the defense for the Skyhawks with 137 rebounds averaging 9.1 per game.
• The Skyhawks were picked to finish eighth in the conference and currently rank fourth. Fort Lewis ranks sixth nationally in the South Central Region.

THE GAME - Adams State

• The two teams meet for the fourth time on the hardwood with a tip off scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Black Hills State leads the all-time series 3-0 since joining the RMAC in 2012-13.
• Cydney McHenry and Maddy Merschel are the top two leaders for Adams State. McHenry averages 8.7 points per game and carries the team with 33 assists on the season. Merschel leads the defense with 56 rebounds averaging 4.3 per game.
• Adams State was selected to finish last in the conference in the preseason poll according to the RMAC Coaches. The Grizzlies currently sit in the 15th place spot.

THE COACHES

• Black Hills State University head coach Mark Nore owns a 257-167 record over 15 seasons with the Yellow Jackets. He is the all-time wins leader for Yellow Jacket basketball.
• Jason Flores enters his fifth season with the Skyhawks. Since joining the Skyhawks, Flores has earned a berth to the NCAA tournament in his first year. Prior to FLC, he was the assistant coach at Univ. of Neb. Omaha. He helped rebuild the program there and developed two all-region selections, four North Central Conference Newcomers of the Year and six all-conference honorees.
• Larry Joe Hunt enters his third season with Grizzlies. He has coached football and basketball for 26 years at the high school level. Hunt was a football standout for Adams State and has solidfied himself as one fo the best prep coaches in the state of Colorado. In his first season, the Grizzlies set a RMAC record with 22 3-pointers made.

LAST TIME OUT
Black Hills State split the weekend against N.M. Highlands and No. 9 CSU-Pueblo, defeating Highlands Friday 79-44 and losing in a close overtime battle to the ThunderWolves Saturday, 88-87.
 
Rachel Erickson and Taylor Trohkimoinen led the offense scoring 23 points apiece on the weekend. Erickson had a season-high 17 points against CSU-Pueblo while Trohkimoinen scored 18. Over the weekend Erickson went 7-of-16 from the field, 1-of-5 from the beyond the arc and 8-of-10 from the line. Trohkiomoinen went 4-of-6 in the paint, 4-of-8 from downtown and 9-of-11 from the line against the ThunderWolves.
 
On defense, Kassidy Scott led the Yellow Jackets grabbing 10 rebounds on the weekend. Alongside Scott, Cheyanne Balster grabbed eight while Trohkimoinen had seven.

A VIEW AT THE TOP
CSU-Pueblo is leading the RMAC with a perfect season at 15-0 and 9-0 in the conference. BHSU threatened that perfect season though as CSUP slipped away with the overtime victory, 88-87. The Yellow Jackets led the majority of the game and in the final seconds of the fourth quarter CSUP forced the overtime where in the last seconds, they took the victory with a game winning layup.

TRUE FRESHMAN
Cortez Standing Bear scored her first set of collegiate points against UCCS. She scored four points and went 2-for-3 from the field and two assists in 19 minutes of action. Abby Switzer scored her first set of collegiate points against Minnesota State Mankato on November 25 and saw nine minutes of action in her second collegiate game. Joining Switzer, Gabby Doxtator saw her first minutes of action as well against Minnesota State after coming off an injury.
 
MOST WINS IN NCAA ERA
Black Hills State tallied its most wins in the NCAA era in the 2015-16 season with 21 victories. The Green and Gold also notched its first NCAA Tournament appearance where they advanced to the second round. The 21 wins eclipsed the 14 wins in the 2011-12 season, and 17 conference victories last year topped the previous best of 13 wins.