IWU Takes Shorthanded Grace
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
WINONA LAKE - On paper, this game looked like a mismatch.
Indiana Wesleyan came into the game with a record of 9-6 and 2-0 in the conference for a first-place tie in the Mid-Central Conference. Grace was 3-12 with an 0-2 conference record for a last-place tie in the MCC.
It was a mismatch. Or was it?
For 24 minutes, Indiana Wesleyan looked dominant, and for the other 16 minutes Grace College looked overpowering. In the end, the Wildcats held off the Lancers down the stretch for a 73-67 win Wednesday at Lancer Gym.
This was a matchup of two of the youngest teams in the MCC. Grace starts one junior, three sophomores and a freshman, while two sophomores and a freshman come off the bench for the Lancers. Indiana Wesleyan started just one senior and has only three others on its 17 person roster.
Grace dressed just eight players for the game as three athletes have left the team. Warsaw High School graduates Sarah Calhoun, Sheila Whitaker and Traci Dunn all quit after the fall semester, so the Lancers' depth will be a key for the rest of the season.
However, on this night, Grace head coach Scott Schramm said his team didn't feel tired at all despite the fact that every starter played at least 33 minutes.
This was a game of long runs and Wesleyan had just a bit more than Grace. The Wildcats had streaks of 9-0, 15-2 and 10-2, while the Lancers had runs of 11-2, 9-1 and 18-3.
Indiana Wesleyan jumped out to a 28-11 lead with eight minutes to play in the first half as Kristy Bistodeau scored 14 points including a pair of three-pointers. But Grace shut her down for the rest of the half as Wesleyan scored just four points over the next eight minutes and the Lancers closed the gap to 32-22 at the break.
In the first half, Grace shot just 40 percent from the field and turned the ball over 19 times.
"It's hard to score when you don't have the ball," Schramm said. "We were fortunate to be down only by 10 as poorly as we played. They should have blown us out of there."
Grace looked to have the momentum coming out of halftime, but Wesleyan quickly took that back at the beginning of the second half. The Wildcats scored 18 of the first 24 points in the second half to take their biggest lead of the game at 50-28. Once again, Bistodeau played big during the stretch with four points and two assists.
Just as the Lancers looked ready to abandon the sinking ship, Eve Arthur began to take over. She got the ball rolling on a seven-point run with a layup and Grace closed to 50-35. With Wesleyan holding a 53-37 lead with 13:08 to play, Arthur knocked down a three-pointer and then she hit a jumper with 10:04 to play to get the lead back to single digits at 56-47.
Wesleyan, though, answered with seven straight points to make the gap 16 points, but a pair of Arthur layups a few minutes later helped to shrink the margin to eight points at 65-57.
At that point, Wesleyan was in the midst of 10 possessions with just one basket. Kristi Keilman scored and Allison Davis added another basket to make the score 65-61. After the Wildcats made a free throw, Arthur scored on another basket and Davis hit a jumper to make the score 66-65 in favor of Wesleyan with 2:31 to play.
But Bistodeau woke up for the Wildcats with a three-pointer with 1:53 to play that was the final blow to Grace. That made the score 69-65 and Wesleyan held on for the victory.
"It would have been very easy at 20 down to pack their bags," Schramm said. "That run back was more than I could have expected at that point. It was just pure hustle, being smarter, getting the right people to shoot the ball. That three (by Bistodeau) kind of broke our backs."
Arthur led Grace with 18 points and she added five rebounds. Davis scored 16 points for the Lancers, and Keilman had 10 points, five rebounds and four blocked shots. Amy Doron also had a solid game for Grace despite scoring just six points. She had team highs in rebounds and assists with eight and five.
"The thing I look at is that they fought hard, and they came back," Schramm said. "The thing that pleases me is that we will continue to improve, we'll pull off some ball games."
Grace (3-13, 0-3) will be at Taylor on Saturday at 1 p.m. [[In-content Ad]]
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WINONA LAKE - On paper, this game looked like a mismatch.
Indiana Wesleyan came into the game with a record of 9-6 and 2-0 in the conference for a first-place tie in the Mid-Central Conference. Grace was 3-12 with an 0-2 conference record for a last-place tie in the MCC.
It was a mismatch. Or was it?
For 24 minutes, Indiana Wesleyan looked dominant, and for the other 16 minutes Grace College looked overpowering. In the end, the Wildcats held off the Lancers down the stretch for a 73-67 win Wednesday at Lancer Gym.
This was a matchup of two of the youngest teams in the MCC. Grace starts one junior, three sophomores and a freshman, while two sophomores and a freshman come off the bench for the Lancers. Indiana Wesleyan started just one senior and has only three others on its 17 person roster.
Grace dressed just eight players for the game as three athletes have left the team. Warsaw High School graduates Sarah Calhoun, Sheila Whitaker and Traci Dunn all quit after the fall semester, so the Lancers' depth will be a key for the rest of the season.
However, on this night, Grace head coach Scott Schramm said his team didn't feel tired at all despite the fact that every starter played at least 33 minutes.
This was a game of long runs and Wesleyan had just a bit more than Grace. The Wildcats had streaks of 9-0, 15-2 and 10-2, while the Lancers had runs of 11-2, 9-1 and 18-3.
Indiana Wesleyan jumped out to a 28-11 lead with eight minutes to play in the first half as Kristy Bistodeau scored 14 points including a pair of three-pointers. But Grace shut her down for the rest of the half as Wesleyan scored just four points over the next eight minutes and the Lancers closed the gap to 32-22 at the break.
In the first half, Grace shot just 40 percent from the field and turned the ball over 19 times.
"It's hard to score when you don't have the ball," Schramm said. "We were fortunate to be down only by 10 as poorly as we played. They should have blown us out of there."
Grace looked to have the momentum coming out of halftime, but Wesleyan quickly took that back at the beginning of the second half. The Wildcats scored 18 of the first 24 points in the second half to take their biggest lead of the game at 50-28. Once again, Bistodeau played big during the stretch with four points and two assists.
Just as the Lancers looked ready to abandon the sinking ship, Eve Arthur began to take over. She got the ball rolling on a seven-point run with a layup and Grace closed to 50-35. With Wesleyan holding a 53-37 lead with 13:08 to play, Arthur knocked down a three-pointer and then she hit a jumper with 10:04 to play to get the lead back to single digits at 56-47.
Wesleyan, though, answered with seven straight points to make the gap 16 points, but a pair of Arthur layups a few minutes later helped to shrink the margin to eight points at 65-57.
At that point, Wesleyan was in the midst of 10 possessions with just one basket. Kristi Keilman scored and Allison Davis added another basket to make the score 65-61. After the Wildcats made a free throw, Arthur scored on another basket and Davis hit a jumper to make the score 66-65 in favor of Wesleyan with 2:31 to play.
But Bistodeau woke up for the Wildcats with a three-pointer with 1:53 to play that was the final blow to Grace. That made the score 69-65 and Wesleyan held on for the victory.
"It would have been very easy at 20 down to pack their bags," Schramm said. "That run back was more than I could have expected at that point. It was just pure hustle, being smarter, getting the right people to shoot the ball. That three (by Bistodeau) kind of broke our backs."
Arthur led Grace with 18 points and she added five rebounds. Davis scored 16 points for the Lancers, and Keilman had 10 points, five rebounds and four blocked shots. Amy Doron also had a solid game for Grace despite scoring just six points. She had team highs in rebounds and assists with eight and five.
"The thing I look at is that they fought hard, and they came back," Schramm said. "The thing that pleases me is that we will continue to improve, we'll pull off some ball games."
Grace (3-13, 0-3) will be at Taylor on Saturday at 1 p.m. [[In-content Ad]]