Lady Lancers Cruise To Tourney WinWINONA LAKE – Just hours after suffering defeat in the opening round of the NCCAA National Championships, Grace College’s women’s basketball team rebounded emphatically on Thursday.
The Lady Lancers throttled Yellowstone Christian 80-34 thanks to a dominant defensive display less than 16 hours after playing on Wednesday night.
Grace forced the Centurions (12-15) into 34 turnovers, scoring a whopping 41 points off those miscues. Yellowstone was held to less than 15 points in every quarter, including two quarters in single digits.
In the first quarter, Grace began to build up its lead. The hosts ended the quarter on an 11-4 run thanks to six points from Rachel Montgomery and a triple by Vironnica Drake.
The second quarter was a defensive showcase by Grace, as Yellowstone only mustered five points in the stanza.
Grace’s fullcourt pressure proved to be stifling as the Centurions racked up 21 turnovers before halftime. The Lady Lancers outscored the Centurions 23-5 in the second quarter.
Grace went into the halftime locker room with a commanding 40-16 lead, powered by 14 points from Drake.
The cushion for Grace eventually grew to 30 in the third quarter, and head coach Scott Blum substituted liberally in the second half.
The fourth quarter defensively was even better. Yellowstone managed just four points, including one basket in the last minute.
Altogether, 11 players scored for Grace, led by Drake’s 16 points that went along with four rebounds and three steals. Brooke Sugg tallied 12 points and five steals, and Montgomery had 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting and added seven boards, three assists and two steals.
Kelsie Peterson scored nine points with four assists, and Micaela Box added nine points in 12 minutes. Lexi Minix passed out five assists and made four steals, and Brooke Treadway produced four points, five boards and two steals.
Paige Gregory led Yellowstone with 13 points and six rebounds, while Jayda Hinton chipped in with nine points.
Thursday’s victory gave the Lady Lancers a record of 19-16, one win behind the program’s single-season record. Grace will try for its second 20-win season in program history on Friday when the Lady Lancers host Hiwassee at 5 p.m. in the NCCAA fifth-place game at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center.
Hiwasee fell 80-72 in Thursday’s other consolation bracket game for the women.
Concordia beat Greenville 62-55 and will advance to Saturday’s women’s championship game against, Mid-America Christian, a 73-60 winner over Emmanuel.
On the men’s side, Emmanuel beat Bluefield 78-56 and will play Southwestern Christian, a 67-61 winner over Central Christian, in Saturday’s title game.
In men’s consolation bracket action Thursday, Mid-America Christian beat College of the Ozarks 81-70, and Life Pacific was an 88-79 winner over Warner University.
