MOUNT VERNON, Ohio – The Grace College women’s basketball team continued its torrid start to the season with a 68-56 defeat of Mount Vernon Nazarene.

The Lady Lancers have now won seven of their first eight games to start the 2012 campaign thanks to a strong second-half performance on Tuesday.

The first half of action was tightly contested as the score was tied five times. Neither team led by more than five points during the first half as the Lady Lancers (7-1, 1-0 Crossroads League) earned a slight 30-28 advantage at halftime.

But the Lady Lancers began to pull away in the second half, largely due to the offense of Juaneice Jackson.

Grace used an 11-2 run early in the second half to gain some separation from the Cougars as Jackson was responsible for seven of Grace’s points.

Grace continued to build its lead until they earned their largest margin of the game at 52-37 with 8:49 to play. The Lady Lancers did not allow the Cougars (1-4; 0-1 CL) to get within 11 points for the duration of the game.

Jackson led all players and tied her season-high with 22 points. She made 4-of-8 from beyond the arc and also nabbed three steals.

Allison Kauffman posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and freshman Gabby Bryant scored 16 points with three treys.

Rianne Aguilar scored eight points off the bench, and Lindsey Schaefer pulled down seven rebounds as well.

Grace hit a sizzling 52 percent of their shot attempts in the second half (13-of-25). They also earned a 20-10 advantage in rebounds after halftime.

The Lady Lancers hit nearly half of their 3-point attempts in the game (7-of-15).

Grace will continue Crossroads League action on Nov. 28 when they welcome No. 4 Indiana Wesleyan to the Orthopaedic Capital Center at 7 p.m.