Lady Lancers Fall In NCCAA OpenerWINONA LAKE – There always seems to be one quarter, said coach Scott Blum, that puts the Grace College Lady Lancers in a hole.
Wednesday night, against fifth-seeded Emmanuel College in the opening round of the NCCAA National Championships, it was the second quarter in which the fourth-seeded Lady Lancers struggled.
In a 65-54 loss, Grace trailed just 15-13 after one quarter of play, but the tournament hosts were outscored 21-8 in the second stanza and faced a 15-point deficit at halftime.
Grace trimmed the margin to five twice, 57-52 and 59-54, in the final two and a half minutes, but just couldn't get over the hump.
“We just struggled putting the ball in the basket today,” said Blum, whose team finished the game 19 of 61 from the field overall and 7 of 25 from three-point range, while Emmanuel was 24 of 55 overall and 5 of 19 from the arc.
“Sometimes we don't score and it puts our defense in a tough spot. We kind of picked up the defense in that third quarter ... I think we outscored them 16-8 in the third quarter. We've had one quarter all year where we've kind of been snake bitten, and the second quarter it was 21-8.
“I give them credit, we battled back, we had an opportunity to try and get ourselves a win, but Emmanuel is good. They're a (NCAA) Division II school. I'm proud of the girls. If the ball goes one way or the other, we might have had a chance to win this game.”
A trey by Grace's Micaela Box cut Emmanuel's advantage to 57-52 with 2:13 remaining. The teams traded baskets and the Lady Lancers trailed 59-54, but Emmanuel closed the game on a 6-0 run en route to the 11-point win, which advanced the Lady Lions to today's 5:15 p.m. semifinal game against No. 1 seed Mid-America Christian, an 85-45 winner over Yellowstone Christian.
The Lady Lancers are now in the consolation bracket of the four-day tournament and were scheduled to tip off at 10:15 a.m. today against Yellowstone Christian.
The NCCAA National Championships consist of eight women's and eight men's teams. Each team is guaranteed to play three games between Wednesday and Saturday.
“We felt like we could have won the whole thing,” Blum said of the tournament. “We think the best two teams were playing tonight, and we got beat but we'll bounce back and hopefully win the next two games. This is the highest we've been seeded in this tournament. We've got 18 wins, and if we can finish the season with 20 wins that would be awesome."
The Lady Lancers, who have just one senior on the roster, got 11 points and eight rebounds from sophomore Vironnica Drake, while classmate Micaela Box tallied 10 points.
Sophomore Lexi Minnix scored nine points, grabbed four rebounds and made three steals, while junior Brooke Sugg chipped in with seven points, six assists and three boards, and junior Pam Miller finished with seven points and five rebounds.
Taylor Delesbour led Emmanuel with 16 points and six boards, while Lochlain Corliss tallied 12 points, six rebounds and three assists, and Emily Dreslinski finished with 10 points and eight boards.
In other women’s games Wednesday, No. 3 seed Greenville beat sixth-seeded Southwestern Christian 77-70 in double overtime, and No. 2 seed Concordia beat No. 7 seed Hiwassee 91-59.
On the men’s side, top-seeded Southwestern Christian beat No. 8 seed Life Pacific 87-69, No. 2 seed Emmanuel was an 80-63 winner over seventh-seeded College of the Ozarks, No. 6 seed Bluefield upset No. 3 seed Mid-America Christian 74-58, and No. 4 seed Central Christian beat fifth-seeded Warner University 64-55.
