by Eric R. Flores, ASU communications
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.- Adams State earned a split of a two-game weekend tournament by beating SAGU American Indian College 91-55 on Saturday inside Brownson Arena at Colorado Mesa University. The game was part of the Holiday Inn Thanksgiving Classic. The Grizzlies improve to 2-3 this season, while the Warriors fall to 0-2.
Christin Bahe (Navajo) topped the Warriors’ score sheet with 16 points. Mackenzie Barger had 11 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. MJ Amador scored eight points. Yvette Ruiz had seven points plus eight rebounds. Deja Roberts had seven points.
Adams State’s Taylor Dossey led all scorers with 17 points. Nicole Brown and Angeline Nageak added a dozen. Feleena Candaleria had a team-high in rebounds with 12while Dossey and Celina Watson had seven rebounds for the Grizzlies.
The Warriors had an early two-point lead but fell victim to 11 first-quarter turnovers. Adams State relied on its inside game and its fast break (ASU scored 39 points on fast-break chances) to steadily pull away from the Warriors. ASU outscored the Warriors 20-4 in the span of seven minutes in the first quarter to make things easy.
Adams State’s defense forced 30 Warriors’ turnovers, and 23 of those were by way of steals. Savreena Rael had four steals. Twenty-six Warriors’ turnovers turned into 36 Grizzlies’ points.
ASU’s biggest lead reached 40 points. The last time Adams State scored as many as 90 points in 2015 was in a game against what is now Western Colorado University.
