GRINNELL, Iowa – A victory to close the calendar year is exactly the New Year's Eve gift the Grinnell College women's basketball team was looking for Saturday afternoon.
 
The Pioneers took care of a pesky Rockford University squad 67-53 at Darby Gymnasium to run their winning streak to two while improving to 4-7 overall.
 
Erin Lillis '24 led the way for Grinnell with 24 points and Nikki Ware '25 poured in 14. On the rebounding front, Sara Booher '25 grabbed nine, Lillis had six and Aiyana Rockwell '24 and Annabel Dougherty '25 five each. Rockwell's total was a career-best. Lillis also had four assists and two steals for Grinnell.
 
Rockford, 1-10 overall, showed it meant business from the start by scoring the game's first seven points. But the Pioneers didn't panic, outscoring the Regents 14-2 over the next several minutes. Lillis, Ware and Booher each had layups to begin the spurt and Ware followed with a jumper.
 
After Rockford scored, Lillis and P.K. Hall '25 each scored from close range and Ware added two free throws to make it 14-9.
 
Grinnell led 16-14 after one quarter and then went wild in the second period, outscoring the visitors 22-8 over the next 10 minutes for a 38-22 halftime lead.
 
Rockford closed the gap to 52-43 by the end of the third period and came within seven early in the fourth period before the hosts put things away with a 10-point run. Lillis started things off with two free throws, a layup and 3-pointer and Ware added a layup and free throw to put Grinnell on top 64-47. The Regents never threatened after that.

The Pioneers jump back into Midwest Conference play Tuesday with a matinee contest at Darby against preseason league favorite Ripon College. Tip-off is 1 p.m.