RAPID CITY, S.D. --- The South Dakota School of Mines women's basketball team broke away down the stretch defeating the Adams State Lady Grizzlies, 72-58, Friday evening during a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference matchup at the King Center in Rapid City.

After a slow first quarter, the Lady 'Rockers held a four-point edge, 19-15, and then extended their advantage to nine at the half, bettering the visitors, 17-12, and went into halftime up, 36-27.

The Grizzlies kept things interesting in the third quarter, outscoring SD Mines, 21-18, as the Hardrockers held onto a six-point lead, 54-48. The Lady 'Rockers surged in the fourth quarter and led by 15 with just over a minute to play and went on a 18-10 run in the final 10 minutes to post the victory.

SD Mines proved why they have one of the best offenses in the conference, shooting 48.3 percent from the field making good on 29-60 shots. They connected on 8-24 three-pointers and were 6-8 from the free throw line. The 'Rockers collected 26 rebounds, had 16 assists, five steals and a blocked shot.

The Grizzlies (3-10, 1-10) finished with 23-52 attempts to shoot 44.2 percent from the field. They were 5-16 from behind the arch and added 7-12 from the foul line. Adams State grabbed 29 rebounds, had 10 assists, two steals and two blocked shots.

Individually for the 'Rockers, junior Taylor Molstad paced her team with 16 points, four rebounds, three assists and one block. Freshman Ryan Weiss contributed with 13 markers, sophomore Cooper Courtney added 12 points and senior Payton Humpal tacked on 10 points.

The Hardrockers improved to 11-5 on the season and 6-4 in the RMAC. Next up, SD Mines welcomes the No. 13 ranked Fort Lewis College Skyhawks Saturday in a 3:30 p.m. bout.