ALAMOSA, Colo.—After being picked to finish the season eighth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Coaches' Preseason Poll, the Adams State University women's basketball team has emerged as a team to watch this season as they enter conference play Thursday night sitting in a tie for fifth place in the standings with a 4-2 overall mark.
 
The Grizzlies, who have lost two straight games after opening the season with their first ever 4-0 mark, are set to open the conference portion of the season on Thursday night at 5:30 p.m. when they host the Fort Lewis College Skyhawks in a blackout game. The Skyhawks enter the game with momentum behind them as they are on a three-game winning streak in fifth place in the RMAC with a 3-1 record.
 
The Grizzlies will close out the weekend on Friday night when they host arch-rival Western Colorado University at 5:30 p.m. The Mountaineers enter the weekend as the tenth team in the conference with a 1-4 overall record.
 
Adams State has wins over Midwestern State (97-72), Cameron (101-66), Embry-Riddle (80-58) and Northern N.M. (103-39).
 
Freshman guard Harmanie Dominguez is the leading scorer for the Grizzlies as she averages 14.2 points per game while the RMAC's Week One Offensive Player of the Week Sharmayne Finley averages 13.2 points per game.
 
Fort Lewis returns to Plachy Hall 3-3 overall record after closing out the nonconference schedule with wins over Western N.M. (66-57), Northern N.M. (80-70) and Embry-Riddle (73-72). The Skyhawks three losses were to Eastern N.M. (58-73), Wayne State (60-90) and Colorado Mesa (61-78).
 
Freshman Lanae Billy leads the Skyhawks scoring attach as she averages 17.7 points per game including 20.5 this past weekend. Former Grizzly center Kaitlyn Bell will return to Plachy Hall for the second time this season as she averages 5.8 points per game and was named the Week Two RMAC Defensive Player of the Week. She averages 6.0 rebounds per game.
 
Western Colorado's lone win of the season came on Nov. 19 when they defeated Texas A&M University Kingsville 62-56 in overtime. They have losses to Angelo State, Eastern N.M., Lubbock Christian and Texas Women's.
 
The Mountaineers are led by Emmery Wagstaff and Rachel Cockman who average 15.0 and 14.2 points per game, respectively.