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ANGOLA - Less than 24 hours after picking up a big victory against ranked Judson, the Grace Lancers may have been victims of their own success in an 81-45 loss to Tri-State in women's college basketball Saturday.
The Lancers squeaked past nationally ranked Judson Friday, and as a result, the game took some energy and momentum from the Lancers. Both coaches noticed it.
"I am definitely not going to use that as an excuse, but that was a factor," Grace coach Lori Wynn said. "With a young group, we have six new kids, so I think getting them mentally prepared everyday is hard. I think that was a factor."
As the youthful Lancers gain experience and develop mental toughness, Wynn believes they'll be ready to battle top opponents with a short time to prepare.
"I would say there is no question," Tri-State coach Jill Simon said. "I am sure they exerted a lot of mental and physical energy in that win and they may have been drained."
While the Lancers were struggling, Tri-State was executing.
With 11:17 in the first half, Tri-State's Crystal Hardesty found an opening from behind the left arc to give the Thunder a 14-12 lead. The Thunder rolled on a 15-2 run for the next four minutes to break the game open.
Tri-State three-pointers keyed the barrage, as each of the five Thunder long-range shots fell. Meanwhile, the Lancers were just 1 for 7 on their field goal attempts during the onslaught.
Simon said success from the arc led to further success for shooters.
"A lot of that is confidence, you get into your rhythm and if one person gets going, everybody else follows," Simon said.
The Lancers' ineffective play compounded their troubles.
"We did not transition well or defend well during that stretch, and then it just snowballed from there," Wynn said.
The Thunder converted 11 Lancer turnovers into 17 points, while Grace had just five points on nine Thunder turnovers.
"We didn't value position of the ball today. We got forced into a lot of turnovers, and they converted off those. Turnovers definitely hurt us today, Wynn said.
Grace's only leads came early at 4-2 and 12-11, just before Hardesty's long-range bomb.
"I thought we played hard, but I don't think we did a lot of things well," Wynn said. "We played defense well in spurts. We rebounded well in spurts, but at this level against a team like Tri-State we need to play for forty minutes."
Tracy Mezera led the Lancers with 13 points, while Danielle Mowery and Kari Helmuth added nine and eight in the loss.
The game continues to show the promise that the freshman guard can contribute to Grace.
"Tracy is a great player," Wynn said. "She is going be a great player for us in the future. She was a big a recruit for us to land. She's played well in all four of the games."
The Thunder were 33 of 58 (57 percent) from the field, 8 of 16 from three-point land and 7 of 12 (58 percent) from the free throw line.
Grace shot 18 of 45 (40 percent) from the field and hit just 6 of 17 (35 percent) free throws.
Grace falls to 1-4, while Tri-State is 1-0.
TRI-STATE 81, GRACE 45
At Angola
Grace (1-4): Mezera 5-9 2-3 13, Mowery 4-9 1-6 9, Helmuth 3-8 0-0 8, Heaphy 2-5 0-1 4, Edwards 1-2 0-0 2, Zeigler 0-0 0-0 0, Bollier 1-5 3-3 8, Marquis 0-2 0-2 0, McClure 0-0 0-0 0, Rees 1-3 0-2 2, Krach 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 18-45 6-17 45.
TSU (1-0): Cope 1-1 0-0 2, Zimmerman 1-4 0-0 2, Lukasik 7-8 1-1 20, Hardesty 6-10 1-2 15, Chamber 8-11 0-0 16, Mercer 1-3 0-0 2, Curtis 2-3 1-3 3, Miller 1-2 2-3 4, Dobbs 1-3 0-0 2, McCoul 0-0 0-0 0, Brockway 1-4 2-2 4, Reinhart 0-3 0-0 0, Wolfe 3-4 0-0 6, Swain 1-2 0-2 2. Totals 33-58 7-12 81.
Halftime -ÊTri-State 43, Grace 23. Team fouls -ÊGrace 12, TSU 19. Three-point goals - Grace 3-8 (Mezera 1-2, Helmuth 2-5, Heaphy 0-1), TSU 8-16 (Mercer 0-2, Zimmerman 1-3, Lukasik 5-5, Miller 0-1, Hardesty 2-4, Reinhart 0-1). Rebounds - Grace 30 (Mowery 4), TSU 32 (Chambers 6). Assists - Grace 7 (Mezera 3), TSU 19 (Reinhart 4). Steals - Grace 9 (Helmuth 5), TSU 18 (Lukasik 4). Turnovers - Grace 26, TSU 17. Block shots-Chambers, Mercer.
