Grace Ladies Win Hoops Opener
WINONA LAKE – The Grace College women’s basketball team started the 2014-15 season on a positive note with a 53-44 victory over Holy Cross on Saturday.
The Lady Lancers (1-0) used a defensive charge in the second half and 18 points from Allison Kauffman to ease away from the Saints.
Grace’s offense was in a rut to start the contest. The Lady Lancers were scoreless after five minutes of action, finally getting on the scoreboard with a free throw by Lindsey Schaefer. The Saints (0-1) used Grace’s struggles on offense to open up a 15-7 run with 7:34 remaining in the opening half.
The Lady Lancers battled back thanks to a seven-point spurt from Kelsey Sule and trailed 24-22 at halftime.
An intense defensive effort from Grace propelled the hosts into the lead for good. Two shot clock violations and a 10-second halfcourt violation highlighted a 15-2 charge by Grace, handing the Lady Lancers a 41-30 advantage with 9:23 to play. Micah Pollard, Heather House and Sarah Feasby made several key defensive plays during Grace’s run.
Holy Cross clawed back to within three at 43-40 with 4:20 remaining, but back-to-back buckets from Darian Patton gave Grace the breathing room it needed.
“This was probably our best defensive effort in a season opener we’ve had in a while. We need to be a good defensive team to reach our goals this season,” said Grace head coach Scott Blum. “Offensively we executed well but didn’t hit our shots, which gave Holy Cross life. Overall it was a good team win. We have a deep team this year, so it was great to see that production off the bench.”
As a team Grace forced Holy Cross into 20 turnovers, scoring 16 points off those turnovers. Grace had a 19-3 advantage in bench points and 34-16 advantage in points in the paint.
Allison Kauffman finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 assists and 2 steals, and Patton tallied nine points. Gabby Bryant had 4 assists, 3 steals and 3 boards, and Kelsie Peterson tallied four points and two steals in her collegiate debut.
The Lady Lancers’ next game is at IU-South Bend on Wednesday 7 p.m.