Melissa Goss had eight assists and three steals in Wednesday’s win over Calumet. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

WINONA LAKE — It was a great day at Grace College for the Lakeland Christian girls basketball team.

The Lady Cougars finished their showing at the 2015 Cougar Classic with a 2-1 record following a 51-27 win over Calumet Christian in the 3rd place game.

It was all LCA from the start as the ladies jumped to a quick 4-0 lead to start the game and would increase that lead to 28-7 by the half.

“We really brought that defensive intensity that I’ve been looking for today,” said head coach Allison Kauffman. “It was, again, our defensive play that won the game for us. Offense came a lot easier for us today than it did in the second game we played yesterday, but we still need to work on being more aggressive offensively.”

LCA was able to take advantage of Calumet’s mistakes as it picked up easy point on fast breaks routinely.

The Lady Cougars had 13 steals as a team, led by Rachel Sand’s four. Melissa Goss added another three and led the team with eight assists. Sand led all scorers with 20 points and eight rebounds.

“Rachel Sand had a great game from the offensive side of things,” began Kauffman,”but Melissa Goss had a great game as well. Defensively she’s the one that brings that pressure for us and that intensity. She gets those steals and provides that boost we need.”

By the end of the third quarter LCA led 37-15. Calumet kept getting burried under its own mistakes while LCA took advantage of seemingly every one of them.

LCA (7-7) will host Cornerstone Christian Tuesday at 7 p.m.