BOURBONNAIS, Ill. - Grace College's women's basketball fell to IU Northwest 81-73 on Friday night.
The game was the first of the Olivet Nazarene Classic, Grace (2-2) will play the hosting Tigers tomorrow at 3 P.M.
The Lancers struggled out of the gate against the RedHawks (1-2).
Emma Sperry had an early 3-point score but Grace found themselves in a 9-3 hole.
The Lancers battled back and by the midpoint of the quarter tied the game after back-to-back trifectas from
Kila Foster and Sperry.
Grace then went cold from the floor just scoring two more points over the next six minutes of play. Grace was hindered by nine first quarter turnovers. At the quarter break the Lancers trailed 29-17.
The start of the second quarter saw the RedHawks rattle off nine unanswered points to grow their lead to 21 points.
Mariah Stoltzfus ended the cold spell with 7:36 left in the half then
Lily Kreischer scored and Stolzfus drilled a 3-point shot for a quick seven-point burst.
Seven different players scored for Grace in the frame as the Lancers pull the deficit to single digits late in the half.
IU Northwest's advantage momentarily grew to 12 points, but Brooklyn Buzzard hit a trifecta in the waning seconds of the opening half to send Grace into the intermission down 48-39.
Grace and IU Northwest traded 3-point scores to start the second half, with the Lancers trifecta coming off the hand of
Cam Conley.
Ellia Foster scored three points the old-fashioned way to make the score 57-47 with seven minutes to go in the third.
After falling behind by 15 points at the midpoint of the stanza, the Lancers roared back with 10 points in 1:06 of action.
Ellia Foster had five of the Lancers' 10 points while Sperry added a second chance score and scored from beyond the arc.
The Lancers were unable to sustain the low deficit. The RedHawks reestablished a 72-63 advantage entering the final frame.
Both teams struggled from the floor in the fourth quarter. The Lancers shot 24 percent while the RedHawks shot 14 percent with just two made shots.
Grace narrowly outscored IU Northwest in the quarter with Sperry pouring in eight of Grace's 10 points.
The Lancers were unable to close the gap as they ultimately fell 81-73.
"At the end of the day we just didn't make shots," commented Grace head coach
Dan Davis. "Knock down a few more shots and a couple more free throws and we win this game. We hurt ourselves with the turnovers in the first quarter and really aided their quick start. I liked how we competed and continued to fight, just needed to make some more shots."
 The Lancers finished the game shooting 33 percent from the floor while the RedHawks hit at a 39 percent clip. The Lancers won the rebounding battle 58-49 with 22 offensive boards.
Sperry led Grace with 23 points and also grabbed 12 rebounds.
Maddy Poynter scored 12 points and
Ellia Foster had 10.
Braylin Terrell had 12 rebounds and three blocks.
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