SPRING ARBOR, MI – Spring Arbor University's Lady Cougars had the momentum for 30 minutes against the Grace College Lancers but just could not hold on in the upset bid and fell to Grace 64-55 on Wednesday evening in the SAU Fieldhouse.
Spring Arbor held a small three point lead at the half, 31-28, and was playing strong against Grace to start the second half and even built a five point lead (47-42) with 9:39 remaining in the game, but the Cougars started to lose the intensity down the stretch committing six turnovers in the last 8:41 in the game.
Carlie Newman scored 10 of her 24 points during a four minute stretch early in the second half to keep Spring Arbor in the game at that point, and Aimee Konkel added 12 points for the Cougars.
Grace was led by Juaneice Jackson's 30 points with Emily Bidwell adding 14 points.
Ana Byrens added seven points off the bench for Spring Arbor and Jenna Jamieson chipped in with six points.
"I thought Carlie Newman had a really good game for us," said Head Coach, Ryan Frost. "She was really aggressive with the ball tonight, not only from the outside, but taking the ball to the basket and did a nice job for us. We just didn't have an answer for (Juaneice) Jackson tonight. She's a really nice player for Grace who can drive well, or hit a stop jumper from the outside."
The loss drops Spring Arbor to 9-16, and 3-10 in the Crossroads League while Grace improved to 16-9, and 7-6. The Cougars remain in 9th place in the CL one game behind Mount Vernon Nazarene (7-17, 4-9) for the last spot in the CL post season tournament.
Spring Arbor will play Indiana Wesleyan on Saturday in Marion, IN at 1:00.
