BELOIT, Wis. - After enduring three tough losses in a row, the Grinnell College women's basketball team was anxious to return to the court to turn around its fortunes.

That's exactly what the Pioneers did Tuesday night as they pulled away from Beloit College in the third quarter for a 63-52 win.

Grinnell led just 26-25 at halftime, but then erupted for a 22-10 scoring edge in the third period and held off the Buccaneers from there to improve to 7-10 in the Midwest Conference and 11-13 in all games.

The Pioneers rode a balanced scoring attack, with Kathryn Stender '21 and Tyria Heath '21 each scoring 14 points and Kate Tomczik '22 kicking in 13. Tomczik added nine rebounds and career highs of three blocks and three assists. Stender had eight rebounds and Heath came up with two steals.

The teams were tied 9-all after one period before Beloit went up by five late in the second period. However, the Pioneers rallied and grabbed a 26-25 lead by halftime on Heath's free throws with 29 seconds left.

Grinnell opened the third period with a 6-0 run as Tomczik made a jumper and Heath four free throws for a 32-25 edge. Three times Grinnell went up by nine points in the period, the last at 46-37 on Sofia Ahooja's '23 free throws with 23 seconds left.

Beloit, 1-16 in the MWC and 3-21 in all games, made things interesting by three times closing within one point in the fourth quarter. The last of those was at 51-50 with 3:44 left before Tomczik converted consecutive layups. 

After the Buccaneers came within 55-52, Grinnell put the game away with eight unanswered points as Claire Collier '21 sank two free throws and a layup, Stender hit two free throws and Emmy Nyquist '23 wrapped things up with a jumper.

During the game, Heath moved up to 10th on Grinnell's career field goals list with 394 and eighth in free throws with 241. Tomczik ranks 17th in blocked shots with 33 and Stender 19th in 3-pointers with 51.

On the season-best chart, Heath's 522 points in 2019-20 rank third and her 123 free throws are fourth. As a team, Grinnell's rebound total of 1,020 is fourth all-time, 1,557 points rank sixth and 539 field goals are 10th.

Grinnell closes its 2019-20 campaign at Lake Forest College Saturday. Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m.