WINONA LAKE – Grace College’s women’s basketball team continued its strong start to the season with a 68-44 victory over Rochester College Friday in the Hoops For Hope Classic. The Lady Lancers (5-1) were consistently pesky on the defensive end of the floor, recording 16 steals and forcing the Lady Warriors into 25 turnovers. Grace proved to be lethal from beyond the arc in the opening minutes of the game. The Lady Lancers drilled four three-pointers in the first six minutes of action against Rochester’s zone, taking a 17-5 lead in the process. The Lady Lancers’ defense was swarming throughout the opening half as it nabbed 10 steals against the Lady Warriors (3-3). Jayla Starks was responsible for five steals in 14 minutes of action in the first half. Grace built a double-digit lead on the strength of its defense and three-point shooting and entered the halftime break ahead 32-22. Rochester charged back to start the second half, draining a trio of three-pointers to slice Grace’s lead to three at 36-33. But the Lady Lancers responded with defensive tenacity. The Warriors could only manage to score 11 points in the final 15 minutes of action as the Lady Lancers coasted away for the 24-point victory. Freshman Sarah Feasby was instrumental in Grace’s second-half run as she scored 10 points in a row for the Lady Lancers. Overall, Feasby made all three of her field goal attempts and grabbed five rebounds in 10 minutes of action. Allison Kauffman led all players with 15 points to go along with eight rebounds. Juaneice Jackson also reached double-digit scoring with 13 points and was 3 of 3 from the arc. Gabby Bryant hit a pair of three-pointers to go along with five assists, two steals and no turnovers, and Jayla Starks finished with seven points, eight boards, three assists and five steals. Rochester attempted 32 shots from the three-point line but could only connect on 22 percent of its treys. Overall, Grace made 39 percent of its field goals compared to 25 percent for Rochester. The Lady Lancers will conclude the Hoops For Hope Classic from the Orthopaedic Capital Center today with a game against No. 24 Union (Ky.) at 2 p.m.
