NC Indiana News

Grace rolls past Crusaders

Grace's women's basketball team had little trouble with Great Lakes Christian on Friday, winning 85-39.

The Lady Lancers (11-3) held the Crusaders (2-13) to single-digit scoring in three of the four quarters, and 10 of the Lady Lancers got in the scoring column during the win.

Grace was led by 15 points apiece from Karlee Feldman, Kate Rulli and Peyton Murphy.

The teams were even at five apiece in the early going, but Grace used an 11-0 run to take control for good. Peyton Murphy was a key figure with seven points during that run, and Kiersten Findley also scored eight in the quarter.

Grace ended the quarter ahead 23-9.

The Lady Lancers struggled with their shooting touch throughout the first half, shooting 33 percent from the floor and 25 percent on 3-pointers.

But Grace flexed its muscles inside, outrebounding Great Lakes 32-12 in the half. Grace had more offensive rebounds (17) than the Crusaders had total boards (12).

Karlee Feldman led the rebounding charge with 12 rebounds by herself in the half, including nine on the offensive glass.

Grace led 44-22 at halftime. The Lady Lancers had 16 second-chance points and 18 points in the paint.

In the third quarter, Grace's defense shone. The Crusaders were held to just eight points in the period as Grace grew its lead to 33.

A pair of free throws early in the fourth quarter from Bekah Marshall pushed Grace's lead up to 40.

Grace used its bench exclusively in the fourth quarter, giving valuable minutes to the second unit. The Lady Lancers nearly ballooned their lead to 50 before coasting to the final 36-point margin of victory.

Marshall stepped up and delivered 9 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds, and Molly Long had 5 points, 6 boards and 2 steals off the bench.

Feldman produced a dominant stat line of 15 points, 17 boards and 3 steals, and Rulli shot 7 of 10 from the floor for her 15 points and seven rebounds.

Murphy amassed 15 points, 4 boards and 5 steals, and Maddie Ryman had 8 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists.

Findley finished with 8 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, Kaylee Patton had five points and five assists, and Kate Schlatter and Carissa Wiegman also got in the scoring column.

Grace outrebounded Great Lakes 62-28 in the victory, grabbing 27 offensive boards in the process.

"It was good to knock the rust off after the Christmas break," said Grace head coach Dan Davis. "We were able to give a lot of our girls playing time and it was good to be able to implement some stuff we have been working on in practice. Looking forward to a tough game tomorrow against Midway to close out the 2022 portion of our schedule."

The Lady Lancers are back home again tomorrow for a 1 p.m. contest against Midway, who earned a spot at the NAIA tournament one year ago.

Original source can be found here.