Grace Stung By Queen Bees
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
WINONA LAKE - The Grace Lancers' women's basketball team ended their Invitational tournament with a second loss in as many days, 81-43 at the hands of St. Ambrose (Davenport, Iowa).
The Queen Bees were successful in keeping the ball out of Grace's Amber Riffell's hands for much of the first half, which caused Lancer turnovers and easy baskets for St. Ambrose.
"That's going to be our story all year," said Lancer head coach Scott Blum. "They know to stop us at all, they've got to keep the ball away from Amber, so we have to have some of our girls step up and hit some shots."
While Riffell was able to score 10 first half points on 5 of 8 shooting, she was denied often by St. Ambrose swarming and collapsing defense. Grace committed 12 turnovers in the first half that led to fast break opportunities for the Queen Bees.
Point Guard Cathy Mangan led the early charge for St. Ambrose, going 3 for 5 from the field and 5 of 6 at the free throw line for 11 points. A hot-shooting Jennifer Goetz poured in 10 first half points on her way to a game-high 24 points.
The 5-foot-10 sophomore forward was 9 of 13 shooting for the game that included 4 of 5 from three-point land.
St. Ambrose jumped out to an early 11-2 lead before the Lancers scored their first points from the field on a jumper by Riffell with 14:20 left in the first half.
Grace never drew as close as 10 points and struggled to get into an offensive flow.
The Lancers were 13 of 42 (31.0 percent) from the field as a team from the game. Grace especially struggled in the second half, going 4 of 18 (22.2 percent).
Riffell once again led the Lancers in scoring with 15 points and seven rebounds.
Blum shook up the starting lineup and started freshman Cristina Calabrese to add some height to his lineup.
"They went big, 6-3, 6-3, 5-11, so instead of trying to go with a guard, we went with (Cristina) which is OK with us because Laura (Kister) is more of a three anyway," said Blum of his lineup change.
Kister dropped in 11 points while Calabrese was solid in her start with 10 points and six rebounds.
Saturday's game against St. Ambrose may be one that doesn't find its way into the film room.
"Up to this point, we played every game well. Even though we lost the last three games, we played them well. You just throw this one out the door. We just came together as a team tonight," said Blum.
With such a young team, the Lancers started two freshmen with Calabrese and Abby Shafer; the adjustment to collegiate basketball will be something that will be a big factor in the success of Grace. Playing two games in the span of less than 24 hours is something this young Grace team is going to have to get used to.
"That's going to be biting us all year. There are freshmen that are playing a lot of minutes and they aren't used to playing a Friday and Saturday game. I think that once they get used to the college minutes and the whole lifestyle, then we'll be OK. This is a great group of girls and they're going to pull together. We're going to fight."
The Lancers fell in the opening round of the tournament to Indiana Tech, 68-56. Riffell led Grace with 17 points and 10 rebounds while Kister had 11 points.
Grace, 3-4 overall, opens up conference play Tuesday when the Lancers host Bethel.
ST. AMBROSE 81, GRACE 43
St. Ambrose 42 39 - 81
Grace 20 23 - 43
Grace - Abby Shafer 0-2 0-0 0, Joni Halsey 1-1 0-0 2, Theresa Clark 0-7 0-0 0, Lindsay Weller 1-3 2-2 5, Cristina Calabrese 2-8 6-9 10, Heidi Helmuth 0-1 0-0 0, Heidi Stamper 0-1 0-0 0, Grace Roley 0-0 0-0 0, Laura Kister 3-9 5-6 11, Amber Riffell 6-10 3-5 15. Totals 13-42 16-22 43.
Three point goals - 1 (Weller 1). Rebounds 26 (Riffell 7, Calabrese 6). Assists 7 (Shafer 3, Calabrese 2, Kister 2), Turnovers 24. Team fouls 14. [[In-content Ad]]
WINONA LAKE - The Grace Lancers' women's basketball team ended their Invitational tournament with a second loss in as many days, 81-43 at the hands of St. Ambrose (Davenport, Iowa).
The Queen Bees were successful in keeping the ball out of Grace's Amber Riffell's hands for much of the first half, which caused Lancer turnovers and easy baskets for St. Ambrose.
"That's going to be our story all year," said Lancer head coach Scott Blum. "They know to stop us at all, they've got to keep the ball away from Amber, so we have to have some of our girls step up and hit some shots."
While Riffell was able to score 10 first half points on 5 of 8 shooting, she was denied often by St. Ambrose swarming and collapsing defense. Grace committed 12 turnovers in the first half that led to fast break opportunities for the Queen Bees.
Point Guard Cathy Mangan led the early charge for St. Ambrose, going 3 for 5 from the field and 5 of 6 at the free throw line for 11 points. A hot-shooting Jennifer Goetz poured in 10 first half points on her way to a game-high 24 points.
The 5-foot-10 sophomore forward was 9 of 13 shooting for the game that included 4 of 5 from three-point land.
St. Ambrose jumped out to an early 11-2 lead before the Lancers scored their first points from the field on a jumper by Riffell with 14:20 left in the first half.
Grace never drew as close as 10 points and struggled to get into an offensive flow.
The Lancers were 13 of 42 (31.0 percent) from the field as a team from the game. Grace especially struggled in the second half, going 4 of 18 (22.2 percent).
Riffell once again led the Lancers in scoring with 15 points and seven rebounds.
Blum shook up the starting lineup and started freshman Cristina Calabrese to add some height to his lineup.
"They went big, 6-3, 6-3, 5-11, so instead of trying to go with a guard, we went with (Cristina) which is OK with us because Laura (Kister) is more of a three anyway," said Blum of his lineup change.
Kister dropped in 11 points while Calabrese was solid in her start with 10 points and six rebounds.
Saturday's game against St. Ambrose may be one that doesn't find its way into the film room.
"Up to this point, we played every game well. Even though we lost the last three games, we played them well. You just throw this one out the door. We just came together as a team tonight," said Blum.
With such a young team, the Lancers started two freshmen with Calabrese and Abby Shafer; the adjustment to collegiate basketball will be something that will be a big factor in the success of Grace. Playing two games in the span of less than 24 hours is something this young Grace team is going to have to get used to.
"That's going to be biting us all year. There are freshmen that are playing a lot of minutes and they aren't used to playing a Friday and Saturday game. I think that once they get used to the college minutes and the whole lifestyle, then we'll be OK. This is a great group of girls and they're going to pull together. We're going to fight."
The Lancers fell in the opening round of the tournament to Indiana Tech, 68-56. Riffell led Grace with 17 points and 10 rebounds while Kister had 11 points.
Grace, 3-4 overall, opens up conference play Tuesday when the Lancers host Bethel.
ST. AMBROSE 81, GRACE 43
St. Ambrose 42 39 - 81
Grace 20 23 - 43
Grace - Abby Shafer 0-2 0-0 0, Joni Halsey 1-1 0-0 2, Theresa Clark 0-7 0-0 0, Lindsay Weller 1-3 2-2 5, Cristina Calabrese 2-8 6-9 10, Heidi Helmuth 0-1 0-0 0, Heidi Stamper 0-1 0-0 0, Grace Roley 0-0 0-0 0, Laura Kister 3-9 5-6 11, Amber Riffell 6-10 3-5 15. Totals 13-42 16-22 43.
Three point goals - 1 (Weller 1). Rebounds 26 (Riffell 7, Calabrese 6). Assists 7 (Shafer 3, Calabrese 2, Kister 2), Turnovers 24. Team fouls 14. [[In-content Ad]]