CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Coming off a draining victory on Friday night against Mt. Mercy, Grace's women's basketball team was not able to provide a winning effort on Saturday in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.

The Lady Lancers' (10-5) offense was far from its usual effectiveness as they fell 54-44 to Iowa Wesleyan.

Grace suffered from their second-lowest offensive output of the season against Iowa Wesleyan less than 18 hours after Grace's come-from-behind win on Friday.

The Lady Lancers connected on 18-of-57 of their field goal attempts (31.6 percent), as well as making 2-of-9 from the free throw stripe (22.2 percent).

Grace's offense was particularly fruitless in the opening half as they produced just 19 points on 26 percent shooting. Through nearly 13 minutes of action to start the game, the Lady Lancers had six points.

Fortunately for Grace, their defense was more than up to the task as they held the Tigers (3-12) to 17 first-half points en route to a 19-17 lead at the break.

Iowa Wesleyan broke the game open, however, with an 18-6 run to start the second half.

With the Lady Lancers trailing 38-27 with less than nine minutes to play, Grace used baskets from Emily Bidwell, Allison Kauffman and JoEllen Fickel to slice the Tigers' lead to 39-33 at the 5:14 mark.

But Grace's momentum ran out soon after as the Lady Lancers were unable to come closer than six points for the duration of the contest.

Overall, Grace won the rebounding battle by three over Iowa Wesleyan and also forced the Tigers into 20 turnovers. But the Lady Lancers hurt themselves with 23 turnovers of their own.

Gabby Bryant and Kauffman led Grace in scoring with 11 points apiece.

Bidwell scored seven points to go along with her eight rebounds, and Jayla Starks tallied 7 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.

Grace concludes the nonleague portion of the schedule with their defeat on Saturday. They will shift their focus to the heart of the Crossroads League season starting Jan. 2. Grace will host Spring Arbor at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.