MISHAWAKA – Grace College's women’s basketball team broke a 30-game losing streak to Mid-Central College Conference rival Bethel College when it took down the 8th-ranked Pilots on the road 67-61 Tuesday. The Lady Lancers, ranked 16th in the NAIA Division II national poll, had not defeated Bethel since the 1996-97 season. Jayla Starks posted her first career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds to highlight the Lady Lancers’ evening, and Hayley Cashier added 12 points. “Our game plan tonight was to turn up the heat on Bethel and force them into mistakes,” said Grace head coach Scott Bluml. “They like to pressure other teams but rarely get pressured themselves, so I thought we did a good job forcing them into mistakes. Our rebounding effort was big as well tonight.” The Lady Lancers (13-6; 5-2 MCC) led nearly the entire first half against the Pilots (14-4; 6-1 MCC), holding Bethel to 23 first-half points on 29.6 percent shooting from the field. Grace’s seven-point halftime lead disappeared quickly as Bethel opened up the second half on a 14-6 run to take a 37-36 lead with 13:32 remaining. But Grace responded with eight straight points to squash Bethel’s momentum, and the Lady Pilots did not take the lead again. The Lady Lancers built their lead up to 11, and they iced the game at the charity stripe with eight free throws in the final 65 seconds of play. Overall, Grace held a plus-11 advantage on the boards with 20 offensive rebounds. They nabbed 13 steals from the Lady Pilots while holding them to just 4-of-21 shooting from the three-point line. All nine players who appeared for Grace scored at least four points. Danielle Boykin had 8 points, eight boards and three blocks, and Hannah Lengel added nine points, four rebounds and three steals. Allison Kauffman and Kiera Gray each scored seven points, and Juaneice Jackson chipped in with six points. Laura Johnson led the Lady Pilots with a game-high 18 points, while Kristin Hicks added 11 points in the loss. Former Wawasee High School standout Ashlee Ort scored four points, dished out three assists and made three steals for Bethel. The Lady Lancers, who moved to within a game of second-place Bethel in the conference standings, play the University of Saint Francis on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Orthopaedic Capital Center. Top-ranked Indiana Wesleyan leads the women's MCC standings with a 6-0 record in the league.
