Box Score GRINNELL, Iowa – The Grinnell College women's basketball team played toe-to-toe with nationally-ranked Cornell College most of Tuesday's game before falling 69-57 at Darby Gymnasium.

The Pioneers, who were within four points with just over six minutes remaining, got 11 points from Kelly Clarke '13 and 10 each from Tolu Alabi '13, Alissa Hirsh '16 and Michelle Briggs '13. Clarke was 3-of-4 from 3-point range.

Alabi also had eight rebounds, Hirsh dished out six assists and Briggs blocked four shots for the Pioneers, who fell to 8-9 in the Midwest Conference and 10-12 in all games.

Camille Marie scored 16 points for the Rams, who are 15th in the latest D3hoops.com national rankings. Cornell is now 16-1 in the MWC and 21-1 in all games.

Cornell shot out to a 19-12 lead before Clarke got hot, hitting three consecutive treys to make it a 21-19 Grinnell lead. Briggs followed with a layup to push the hosts ahead 23-19 with 6:26 left in the first half.

The Pioneers took one more four-point lead, that at 27-23, on a layup by Alabi at the 4:58 mark. However, Cornell rallied for a 36-30 halftime lead.

Grinnell never took the lead in the second half, though it came within one when a layup by Clarke with 13:02 left made it 44-43. Cornell pushed its cushion to 10 before the Pioneers made one last charge, as Hirsh converted a traditional three-point play and Cristal Coleman '15 sank a trey to make it 55-51 at the 6:08 mark.

But the Rams took off after that and won by 12.

Grinnell closes out its campaign Saturday with a game at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis. Game time is 1 p.m.