WINONA LAKE - After a three-point loss to No. 1 seeded Emmanuel Thursday, the Grace College Lady Lancers entered Friday's game against Trinity International (20-14) with something to prove.
Grace (10-24) built a 20-point lead 12 minutes into the first half on their way to an 85-50 victory, the most points the Lady Lancers have put up all season.
Their lead never fell below 21 throughout the remainder of the game and they led by as many as 35.
Melanie Duplessis and Vivianne Kindt scored 23 of the Trinity Lady Trojans' 25 first half points, as they trailed Grace 25-52. Duplessis finished with 26 and Kindt finished with 14. Reanna Perera was the game's leading rebounder with eight boards and eight points.
Passing and defense was crucial for the Lady Lancers on Friday.
During the first half against Emmanuel, Grace had two assists, but in the first half against Trinity, they had 13 assists and 23 overall. Grace also forced the Lady Trojans into 18 first half turnovers and 29 overall.
The Lancers had11 players get into the scoring column, led by Kiera Gray's 13 points and four steals, Kayla Skaggs finished with 12 points and Jamie Westness finished with 11 points, all in the first half. Kate Ball chipped in 10 points and Hayley Cashier and Kendall Withered contributed nine each.
Grace faces Nyack today at 1 p.m. for fifth place while Trinity faces Oakland City at 11 a.m. for seventh place.
Palm Beach Reaches Championship Game
It came down to the final possession in the semifinal round of the NCCAA tournament between Palm Beach Atlantic (12-18) and Emmanuel College (18-14).
Emmanuel led by one point with a minute remaining.
After an offensive rebound by Emmanuel, Palm Beach was forced to foul with the clock winding down. Instead, Palm Beach lucked out with an Emmanuel turnover.
Palm Beach was left with 10 seconds on the clock to travel the length of the court and score. The inbound pass went to freshman Lynsey Poole. She drove past several defenders and scored a lay-up with two seconds left. A desperation shot by Emmanuel's Mallory Hill fell short and the Lady Sailfish advanced to the championship game, winning 48-47.
The Lady Lions of Emmanuel led by three at halftime but the Lady Sailfish opened the second half with a 7-0 run to gain a four-point lead. Emmanuel responded with a 6-0 run of their own, setting the back-and-forth tone for the remainder of the game.
The game featured 10 lead changes and four ties. The largest lead was Emmanuel's eight-point advantage midway through the first half.
Emmanuel's Tameka Pease and Ashley Jackson recorded the game's only double-doubles.
Pease finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Jackson scored 12 points (all in the first half) and grabbed 11 rebounds.
They struggled from the floor, shooting 27 percent in the game and 17 percent in the second half. They stayed in the game by grabbing 19 offensive rebounds, outrebounding Palm Beach by 10 overall.
Poole and Haley Fields led Palm Beach's scoring with 12 points apiece. Kristine Webb was a force in the post with 12 rebounds and five blocked shots.
Emmanuel plays in the third-place game against Mid-America Christian tomorrow at 3 p.m. while Palm Beach advances to the championship game to face Mount Vernon Nazarene University at 5 p.m.
Nyack Gets Past Oakland City
Nyack's forward Victoria Sweet and Oakland City's forward Kristi McVey went head-to-head most of the game in the post. McVey scored more points, but Sweet and the Warriors got the last word as two late free throws by Nyack's Kelsy McIntosh iced the game for the Warriors, 73-68.
Nyack (16-14) came out hot in the first half, leading by as many as 10 points and shooting 50 percent from the field. Sweet was just shy of a first half double-double with 11 points and 9 rebounds.
Despite eight fewer turnovers in the half (11 to 3), Oakland City entered the second half down by eight, 40-32.
Jasmine Minter led Nyack in the second half, scoring 14 of her team-high 18 points after the break.
McVey did her best to keep Oakland City (17-14) in the game, battling her way to a game-high 21 points, including 11 of 12 from the free-throw line.
However, Nyack outrebounded Oakland City by 19 and grabbed 18 offensive rebounds, which proved too much for Oakland City to handle.
Sweet highlighted the rebounding effort for the Warriors with 18 boards to go along with her 16 points.
Nyack will play its final game today in the fifth-place game at 1 p.m. against Grace College. Oakland City will play Trinity International in the seventh-place game at 11 a.m.
Mt. Vernon Nazarene Advances To Championship Game
A big second-half from senior point guard Rachel Fiely allowed the second-seeded Mount Vernon Nazarene Cougars to advance to the championship game over Mid-America Christian in the NCCAA Women's Division I tournament Friday, 70-55.
Fiely scored 14 of her 17 points in the final 8:30 of play including hitting clutch free throws down the stretch to lead the Lady Cougars to victory. Fiely also added six assists while sophomore center Amanda Himes scored a game-high 20 points and brought down 12 boards for her second double-double of the tournament.
The Lady Cougars started strong taking a lead as large as 12 points, but the Lady Evangels refused to go away and fought back to within three points for a 35-32 Mt. Vernon lead at halftime.
Mid-America tied the game with 15:18 to play on a Nathalia Araujo three-pointer, but that's as close as they would get the rest of the way.
Mt. Vernon controlled the rest of the game leading by as much as 17 points en route to a victory.
The Lady Evangels featured just two players in double-digits. Junior Karina Trindade recorded her second consecutive double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds and teammate Tiphani Eaves added 13 points of her own.
Mt. Vernon now plays Palm Beach Atlantic University in the championship game to be played at 5 p.m. on today.
