WINONA LAKE - Every statistic lined up for a Grace College victory over Calumet College of St. Joseph on Wednesday - except one.
Grace's women's basketball team tallied 15 steals, forced 31 turnovers and took 19 more shots than the Crimson Wave. The Lady Lancers (2-2), however, only shot 27 percent from the field and allowed Calumet to make a big second-half run and leave the Orthopaedic Capital Center with a 55-54 win."I look at the stats and I don't know how we lost," Blum said. "Overall, I think we executed our offense well. That's why I am kind of dumbfounded here. We got shots in the post, we just didn't finish our shots."
Grace had an 11-point lead, its largest of the game, midway through the second half before the Crimson Wave (3-1) made a 17-3 charge to take a 46-43 lead with five minutes remaining. The lead was Calumet's first since their 3-2 advantage in the first three minutes of the game.
"Basketball is a game of spurts," Blum said. "Until they learn how to put games away, every game will be a battle."
The Crimson Wave had a 51-47 lead with 30 seconds remaining in the game when Grace's Autumn Heflin drained two clutch free throws to get the Lady Lancers within two. Calumet made two more free throws on the following possession, giving them a 53-49 lead.
On the inbound pass, Calumet's lock-down defense forced Danielle Boykin to make a dangerous quarterback throw to Heflin past the timeline. Her desperation hurl was perfect and Heflin scored a quick layup with 12 seconds remaining, making the score 51-53.
Grace was again forced to send Calumet to the free-throw line on the next possession. The Crimson Wave's Whitney Bonham made the first attempt but missed the second. Her teammate Whitney Bonham, however, grabbed her 12th rebound of the game on the loose ball to clinch the victory. Hannah Lengel made a three-pointer as time expired, making the final score 55-54.
Grace gave up 11 offensive rebounds during the contest, 10 of them in the second half.
"Our game plan was to make them shoot from the outside," Blum said. "We did a good job of that but we didn't get the rebound when they took their jump shots. They got second and third opportunities and hung around."
Similar to Grace's 13-0 start at homecoming on Saturday, the Lady Lancers again jumped to a 16-5 start. Scrappy defense on both ends led to a low-scoring first half, as the score remained 16-5 with nine minutes remaining in the period. Grace led by two at halftime.
The Lady Lancers started the second half strong as well, making an 11-4 run before the Crimson Wave mounted their comeback.
Grace had three players score in double figures. Demetria Eley led with 11 points and seven rebounds; Hannah Lengel added 10 points, five assists and four steals; and Heflin tallied 10 points and four rebounds.
The Lady Lancers travel to Indiana University-Southeast for a tournament Friday and Saturday. The women will square off against the University of Northwestern Ohio Friday at 5:30 p.m.
