MARION – A faulty start on Wednesday resulted in a 80-65 defeat for Grace’s women’s basketball team at No. 13 Indiana Wesleyan.

The Lady Lancers were outscored by 19 in the first quarter, and Grace could not sustain a comeback bid against the Wildcats (15-6, 7-2 Crossroads League).

In Grace’s loss to IWU earlier in the season, the Wildcats led 24-5 in the first quarter. That theme was repeated on Wednesday when IWU jumped out to a 12-0 lead.

The Lady Lancers (10-11, 4-5 CL) did not score their first point until 6:40 into the game when Pam Miller made a shot in the paint. The only other points scored by Grace in the quarter came from a basket by Lauren Godfrey in the last minute, and IWU held a commanding 23-4 lead by quarter’s end.

Grace struggled to shoot 2-for-11 from the floor in the quarter (18 percent) while IWU shot 63 percent.

The rest of the game was played practically even with Grace outscoring IWU by four over the final three quarters. But the damage proved to be irreparable for the Lady Lancers.

Grace started the second quarter with a 7-2 spurt to cut the Wildcats’ margin to 14, but at halftime Grace trailed 39-20. IWU maintained a comfortable cushion for the rest of the contest.

Micaela Box finished with a team-high 15 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, and Brooke Sugg scored 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Vironnica Drake had nine points, and Kelsie Peterson scored six.

Dayton Groninger had seven points and three rebounds in 20 minutes of play for the Wildcats. Anna Imhoff scored 17 points to lead five Wesleyan players that reached double figures.

The Lady Lancers end the week on Saturday, traveling to Taylor at 1 p.m. for the first half of a doubleheader with the men’s teams.