WINONA LAKE, Ind. – Grace's women's basketball team dropped a hard fought contest 60-56 to Iowa Wesleyan on Tuesday afternoon.
The Lady Lancers struggled from the field, shooting just 32 percent for the game. The loss snaps Grace's record breaking seven game win streak.
The Lady Lancers and the Tigers tried to establish an interior presence early in the contest, with both teams looking to feed the ball into the post. After a successful Karlee Feldman layup, the Lady Lancers held a 8-4 lead.
The Tigers controlled the pace of play late in the quarter and took a 16-14 lead into the second quarter.
Maddie Ryman hit a trifecta and Feldman hit another shot from the paint to give Grace a narrow 21-20 advantage early on in the second frame.
Both squads struggled to keep possession in the middle portion of the quarter as the teams combined for 11 turnovers.
Iowa Wesleyan built a 32-27 lead late, but Grace rattled off five straight points before the intermission. Kate Rulli made a pull up jump shot and Ryman hit a three-point shot to tie the game up at 32 going into the half.
The Tigers hit a 3-point shot to open the third quarter with a 35-32 lead, but it was the biggest lead that either side had in the quarter.
Made shots continued to be hard to find as the teams combined for just two made field goals half way through the quarter.
A Ryman layup seemed to break the seal on the bucket as the final minutes of the quarter turned into a track meet. Grace trailed 46-44 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Tigers opened the final frame on a 6-0 run that ballooned the lead to eight points. A pair of Kaylee Patton free throws ended the scoring drought, but Iowa Wesleyan answered right back.
Iowa Wesleyan had an answer every time Grace tried to cut into the lead as the Tigers maintained their eight-point advantage.
After the Lady Lancers cut the lead down to six points, Ryman hit another trifecta to cut the spread down to 56-53 with two minutes left.
On the Tigers next possession, they converted on one of two of their free throws to push the lead back to four points, but Ryman again hit from range to pull within a single point, but it was as close as Grace could get.
Iowa Wesleyan hit their shots from the charity stripe late to preserve the 60-56 win.
"That was a good team that we just played," said Grace head coach Dan Davis. "They had a few more easy points than we did and we couldn't buy a shot today. I think we had a little bit of emotional fatigue from the conference run, and we needed to show a little bit more mental toughness. We are going to have moments like this throughout the season but I know that we can learn lessons from this game that we can apply later in the season."
Ryman led all players with 23 points and Feldman narrowly missed another double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds.
Grace won the turnover battle 23-15 but was outshot 49 percent to 32 percent.
The Lady Lancers will be back in action on Thursday as they take on St. Xavier at 6 p.m.
