Grace College women’s basketball coach Scott Blum leads his team into the NCCAA Championships starting Wednesday in Winona Lake (Photos provided by the Grace College Sports Information Department)

WINONA LAKE – The last four seasons have marked a reversal in fortunes for the Grace College women’s basketball program.

It’s a trend that coach Scott Blum would like to see continue this week.

The Lancers play host to the NCCAA National Championship Tournament starting Wednesday in the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center. The eight-team tourney runs through Saturday.

Grace enters the tourney with a tough draw as the No. 8 seed. The Lancers, despite beating Oakland City 84-66 at home Thursday in the Midwest Regional title game, will face top-seed Lee University Wednesday at 5:15 p.m. in a first-round matchup.  The Flames, who hail from Cleveland, Tennessee, are 23-5 and enter the tourney having won 16 of their last 17 games.

“There are going to be a lot of good teams in the tourney, but I feel great about next week,” said Blum after seeing his team win Thursday night. “We just have to be sharper next week and get after it.”

The Lancers, at 17-15, have put together their fourth straight season with a .500 mark or better. The Grace program had posted 18 straight losing seasons prior to 2010-11.

Blum, an NAIA All-American and NCCAA Player of the Year while playing for Grace, is the program’s all-time winningest coach in his 10th season. He has led his team to six straight appearances in the NCCAA National Championships, including a program best third-place finish in 2012.

Grace enters the tourney after going 12-6 in the tough Crossroads League, a program best for conference wins.

“We are battle tested,” Blum said.  “I think we have one of the deepest teams in our league. Our depth really helps us a lot with the number of players I can bring off our bench.”

Junior Allison Kauffman is the second leading scorer and top rebounder for Grace.

The Lancers are led by its outstanding duo of Juaneice Jackson and Allison Kauffman. Jackson, a slick and smooth southpaw guard, averages 18.2 points-per-game and leads her team in assists, steals and 3-pointers. Kauffman, a 6-0 junior forward from Fort Wayne, averages 16 points and a team-high 7.5 rebounds per game.

Jackson, who is the team’s lone senior, owns the program’s all-time scoring record with 1,830 career points.  Jackson scored 23 points and Kauffman had 22 in the regional championship game win on Thursday.

Grace has nine players averaging at least 14 minutes per game. That lengthy list includes junior Lindsey Schaefer (6.0 ppg.), freshman Dariyan Morris (5.4), sophomore Gabby Bryant (5.0), freshman Darian Patton, sophomore JoEllen Fickel, sophomore Sarah Feasby and freshman Chloe Pridgen. A dozen players scored in the Midwest Regional title game win last Thursday.

The winner of the Grace-Lee contest Wednesday advances to play on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. The loser drops into the loser’s bracket and plays Thursday at 8:30 a.m.