VALPARAISO, Ind. - The Grace women's basketball team traveled to Valparaiso to take on the Beacons in an early season exhibition.

The Lancers had a strong showing against their DI foe, dropping the hard fought contest against the Beacons 89-70.

The Lancers came out of the gates full of energy applying a full court press from the jump and attacking on offense. Braylin Terrell started the scoring for the Lancers with two free throws. Emma Sperry hit a corner three and Terrell added a bucket down low to give the Lancers to an early 7–2 lead.

The Beacons stormed back to take the lead, but Maddy Poynter added a quick five points to stop the charge and draw the Lancers within 11 after the first quarter.

Coach Dan Davis had his team fired up after the quarter break. They came out on fire with Poynter and Sperry adding triples, bringing the deficit to four within the opening minutes of the second period.

The Lancers complimented their offensive success with defensive tenacity, forcing timely turnovers, ending in points on the other end. Bekah Longenbaugh added her own three ball to bring the score to 35–34.

After a quick resurgence from the Beacons, Longenbaugh added another triple. As the final minute wound down in the first half, the Lancers kept the intensity until the halftime break only trailing by eight, 48-40.

Both teams came out of the halftime break with intensity on both ends of the floor, however, Valpo had the advantage when it came to getting shots to fall. Halfway through the third quarter they led 59–45.

Following the media timeout, the Lancers scored a quick layup, forced a turnover, and added another two points from inside drawing the score to 59-49.

The Beacons responded to this spark from the Lancers stretching the lead to 66-50. Minutes later the third quarter ended with a score of 71-52.

To start the final quarter of action, the Beacons added six points from the free throw line, while Mariah Stoltzfus was active on the glass to add a put back layup. Terrell added some fancy footwork down low following the drop off from Morganne Houk to record the basket and the foul shot.

Poynter added another 3-point basket as the Lancers cut the deficit back down to 16 points as Grace continued to battle with their DI foe.

Becca Gerdt had four points in the final frame including two late points off of offensive rebounds helping the game to its final score of 89-70 in the Beacons favor.

"Always a great experience to come in and play against a DI foe," Grace head coach Dan Davis commented. "We felt more comfortable playing this style of ball today and even though we didn't shoot a great percentage, trusting that a lot of those shots are going to fall. Really proud of how we matched up against a top opponent and left everything on the floor."

The Lancers forced 24 turnovers in the game but were out rebounded by eight on the offensive glass. 

Poynter, Sperry and Gerdt all scored in double figures. Lily Kreischer led Grace with nine rebounds. Stoltzfus impressed with 6 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.

Grace will next be in action on Tuesday when they travel to Holy Cross.