GRINNELL, Iowa – In the ever-important February stretch run, Grinnell College's women's basketball team kicked things off in stellar fashion.
The Pioneers held off a pesky Illinois College team 65-59 before an enthusiastic crowd at Darby Gymnasium Saturday afternoon, giving them four victories in their last five outings.
Grinnell remained fifth in the Midwest Conference standings at 7-4 while moving to 13-7 overall. The Lady Blues are still sixth, falling to 4-7 in the league and 7-13 in all games.
The Pioneers' offense featured a potent one-two punch of
Bailey Strovers '27 and
Nikki Ware '25, who scored 16 and 15 points, respectively. Strovers recorded another double-double on the season with a career-best 15 rebounds.
Skylar Thomas '26,
Nora Lynch '28 and
Cassidy Pak '28 each added eight points and
Sara Booher '25 grabbed 11 rebounds. Booher also had three blocks and Ware distributed five assists. On the steals front, Pak had a career-high two while Strovers also recorded a pair.
It was a fierce battle the entire way, with Grinnell leading 17-13 after one period and 32-26 at halftime before the Lady Blues rallied to make it 45-44 at the end of three quarters.
Illinois College opened the fourth quarter with a bucket to take a one-point lead, but Ware and Strovers countered with treys and Strovers added a layup for a 53-46 Grinnell lead with 7:24 remaining.
The Lady Blues didn't give in, though, twice tying the game including at 54-all with 3:17 remaining. Pak then drained a 3-pointer to put the Pioneers ahead to stay and Ware and Strovers followed with free throws for a 59-54 lead with 1:12 left. Grinnell secured the win at the free throw line, going 6-of-6 in that span with Ware making four and Lynch two.
Ware made plenty of moves on Grinnell's career record list, going to ninth in steals (116), 14
th in points (903), 20
th in field goals (281). Booher ranks fourth in season history for blocked shots with 69, and the Pioneers' 305 free throws made this season rank eighth.
Grinnell will attempt to avenge an earlier loss to Cornell College when the Rams visit Darby on Wednesday. Tip-off is 5:30 p.m.