WINONA LAKE – It wasn’t that Grace College’s women’s basketball team didn’t get shots down the stretch of Tuesday’s home opener against IU-South Bend. The Lady Lancers fell 64-62 in heartbreaking fashion because they couldn’t get their shots to fall. In a back-and-forth battle with the visiting Titans, Grace missed their final 10 shots and didn’t score during the final 4:19 of play. The Lady Lancers were just 13 of 33 from the field in the second half and shot 36 percent for the game. IUSB, on the other hand, shot 63 percent from the field in the second half, 49 percent for the game, and left the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center all smiles after edging the Lady Lancers with a last-second shot. IUSB improved to 2-0, while Grace fell to 1-1. “Down the stretch, I thought we had some good shots, we they just didn’t fall,” said 10th-year Grace coach Scott Blum. “That’s the game of basketball. Sometimes you get the lucky bounce. I don’t believe in luck, but basketball is all about when the ball goes in for you.” With 4:19 remaining, senior Juaneice Jackson gave the Lady Lancers a 62-56 lead. The basket gave Grace its largest lead of the game. It also turned out to be the last time the Lady Lancers scored. The Titans tied the game with 1:35 remaining on a bucket from junior Nichole Sly. Jackson missed a shot in the lane with just under seconds remaining while the game was still deadlocked. Junior Allison Kauffman then missed the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity at the free throw line. Junior Megan Callaway grabbed the rebound for IUSB, and then Sly scored with one-tenth of a second remaining. The Lancers inbounded the ball after Sly’s shot, but with so little time on the clock, all Jackson could do was catch a pass before time ran out. “I was pleased with the effort tonight, we just didn’t get it done,” said Blum. “We improved from the Holy Cross game. We played better as a team. It was good to see them play together. We’ll move on and continue to get better.” Jackson, a second-team All-America selection last year, led Grace with 24 points, six rebounds and a pair of steals. She scored the Lady Lancers’ first 13 points and had 16 points by halftime. Kauffman added 13 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore Gabby Bryant chipped in with 10 points and five rebounds. For the Titans, Callaway and Emily Strilich, both 6-footers, did the majority of the damage. Callaway was 10 of 18 from the field and finished the game with 26 points and nine rebounds. Strilich was 7 of 13 from the field, scoring 16 points to go with eight rebounds. “It’s not that we didn’t have a plan, we just didn’t get to them,” Blum said of defending Callaway and Strilich. “They had 20 of their team’s 32 points at halftime. They’re good players.” Freshman KiLee Knafel, a former Wawasee High School standout who graduated as the Lady Warriors’ second all-time leading scorer, came off the bench for the Titans and scored five points. Grace is in action again Saturday when it hosts Trinity Christian at 1 p.m. for Homecoming. IUSB travels to Marion for a clash with defending national champion Indiana Wesleyan. The game will pit former Wawasee standouts Knafel and Taylor Goshert against each other.
