PRESCOTT, Ariz. - Grace College's women's basketball team came up just short of picking up a win in Arizona, falling to the Embry-Riddle 64-59 on Tuesday night.

The Lancers (7-5, 1-3 Crossroads League) will now be off until after Christmas before playing in a pair of games before the new year.

Grace will travel to St. Xavier on December 29, and will then head to Gainbridge Fieldhouse (home of the Indiana Fever/Pacers) to take on Holy Cross. Tickets for that event can be found here.

Grace's offense started the game cold from the field, managing just three points until the halfway point of the opening quarter as they trailed 10-3.

Kensie Ryman broke the lull for the Lancers with an old-fashioned 3-point play but the Eagles (4-5) responded with a pair of scores to extend their lead to 15-6.

Peyton Murphy had a trio of successful shots from the charity stripe and Morganne Houk added an acrobatic layup to cut into the lead. Emma Sperry had a late bucket that sent the game into the quarter break with Grace trailing 19-14.

The Lancers wasted no time in cutting down the lead even more in the second quarter as they scored the first four points of the frame to pull within a single point. Embry-Riddle responded with a timely trifecta to maintain their lead.

Murphy added a pair of free throws at the midpoint of the quarter and on the next possession hit a shot from range to give the Lancers their first lead of the contest.

Grace and Embry-Riddle exchanged the lead back-and-forth until late in the half.

With the game tied at 32 with a minute left in the second quarter Sperry scored on a drive into the paint and Ryman then added another paint score on the next possession to send Grace into the halftime intermission with a 36-32 advantage.

Grace shot an even 50 percent in the opening half while holding Embry-Riddle to 39 percent. The Eagles had 10 more points off of turnovers while Grace held a three-rebound advantage.

Bekah Marshall opened the scoring in the second half to push Grace's lead to six points, the largest they would enjoy. The Lancers managed just one more bucket over the next five minutes which allowed the Eagles to push ahead 43-40.

Sperry had an explosive response however as she connected on a pair of trifectas to recapture the lead for Grace. Marshall added a pair of free throws but a last second 3-point field goal from the Eagles had the Lancers lead at two points entering the final frame.

Embry-Riddle started the fourth quarter off with a shot from deep which gave them a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

The Eagles lead grew to as many as eight points as the Lancers struggled to find consistency in the final stanza.

The Lancers made their way to the charity stripe late in the quarter to cut into the deficit but it was too little too late as they ultimately fell 64-59.  

"We put ourselves in a position to win tonight," Davis added. "If we make a few more free-throws or layups it's a different result. We have to get a little better at controlling the controllables in these close games because they can be the difference between winning and losing. This was a great trip and great experience for our team and I am excited about some of the growth I saw here."

Grace finished the game shooting 35 percent, just behind Embry-Riddle's 36 percent. Both teams grabbed 34 rebounds.

The Lancers committed just three more turnovers than the Eagles, but Embry-Riddle scored 26 points off of turnovers compared to Grace's nine points.

Murphy added another double double to her season total with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Sperry had her second consecutive game in double digits with 16 points. Houk added seven rebounds and Sophia Morrison had three steals.

"Obviously we would have liked to end this trip with a win, but we scheduled these games because we wanted to be tested by national tournament teams," commented Grace head coach Dan Davis. "We played two really good teams on this trip and have learned some things that will make us better as we head into conference play."