Cold Shooting Costly To Grace
WINONA LAKE – The Grace College women’s basketball team suffered its worst shooting performance of the season on Saturday afternoon in a 57-39 defeat to No. 21 Huntington.
The Lady Lancers (14-14; 10-6 Crossroads League) shot 26 percent from the floor, including a 5-for-27 performance (19 percent) in the second half in dropping the Crossroads League contest.
Grace also had more turnovers (20) than made field goals (14) against the Foresters.
Saturday’s game started evenly as a steal and fastbreak layup from Juaneice Jackson lifted the Lady Lancers to an early 11-9 lead. But Grace’s offense went dry over the next eight minutes. Huntington held Grace to four points over the ensuing 8:01, allowing the Foresters to open up a 13-point lead.
The Foresters (21-6; 13-3 CL) stifled the Lady Lancers into 32 percent shooting for the first period, taking a 33-21 lead into halftime.
Grace showed signs of a rally coming out of the halftime locker room as two buckets from Jackson and another from Lindsey Schaefer trimmed Huntington’s lead to seven. But another dry spell offensively doomed Grace. The Lady Lancers, who only scored 18 points in the second half, tallied three points over nearly eight minutes of action.
After Grace’s drought, Huntington never led by less than 18 for the rest of the game, and the Foresters cruised to victory.
Juaneice Jackson, who was honored after the game for “Senior Day,” had 10 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals. Allison Kauffman finished with 10 points and seven rebounds, and Schaefer had nine points and nine boards. No other player for Grace had more than three points.
Huntington made 39 percent of their shot attempts, including seven 3-pointers. They struggled from the foul line, however, at 43 percent.
The Lady Lancers conclude the regular season with a pair of road games next week – at Mt. Vernon Nazarene on Wednesday and at Bethel in a men’s/women’s doubleheader on Saturday. Grace is guaranteed to host a first-round Crossroads League Tournament game with the opponent to be determined.