IW women edged out by Grinnell

Iowa Wesleyan held a halftime lead in their third game of the season on Wednesday night, but a fierce third-quarter comeback from a visiting Grinnell team spelled doom for the Tigers, who fell 51-47.

Defense ruled the first quarter. Grinnell led 9-6 after the first period despite five early points from Allie Massner, who seemed to be the only Tiger that could get it going offensively early on.

'That's kind of what we expect from Allie,” says head coach Jack Bruns. 'I know last year, the last five or six games, she had a terrific offensive output (and) that's a role that we are working to have her take, kind of that second option.”

The junior guard scored four more points in the second quarter to have nine by halftime, and a couple of big three-pointers by freshman forward Jordanne Mickley helped IW swipe the lead. The Tigers won the quarter 16-7 to take a 22-16 lead at halftime.

IW had a slow start to the third quarter, and that led to a few open looks for Grinnell. The Pioneers tied the game up at 22 less than a minute into the period.

A. Massner responded with five-straight points to give the Tigers a 27-22 advantage, but Grinnell went on a 16-2 run to go up by nine, at 38-29. Sarah Kavanh hit a jumper in the final minutes to cut the Pioneer lead to 38-31, but the Tigers had their backs against the wall going into the final period.

'I felt like coming out of the third, we had the lead and we were kind of complacent in that,” Coach Bruns said. 'We're a young team, and we haven't had a lead yet so far, so I think it's going to take time for us to learn to play with the lead and keep our foot on the gas.”

Grinnell built the lead up to double digits in the fourth quarter, going ahead 42-31 with 8:38 left to play, but lone Tiger senior Darby Massner found the hot hand to keep the Tigers in the game.

D. Massner scored the next six points of the game all by herself to cut the lead to five points, at 42-37. Then, after a Grinnell jump shot stretched the lead to seven, she hit her only three-pointer of the ballgame to cut the lead to 44-40.

IW just couldn't get the lead down any lower than four points, however, and Grinnell hung on for the win, dropping IW to 0-3 on the season.

A. Massner finished with 17 points to lead the Tigers in the loss. D. Massner had 15 points, 11 rebounds and there steals. Mickley finished the night with eight points.

Kavanh scored five points in the loss. Da'Jaah Swolley had two. Harriet Fowler struggled shooting the ball but led the squad with five assists. Madison Scholl was the only other IW player to see the court.

Despite the loss, Coach Bruns said he was pleased with how the Tigers competed, especially with less time to prepare than usual. Bruns' wife gave birth to their first child the day before the game.

'I got some nice gifts from them (and) I have a lot of good opporunities for babysitters,” Bruns joked after the game. 'And with having limited action within the last couple of days, I felt good about how we competed.”

IW will step into SLIAC play for their next game. They'll take on Westminster College on the road, on Wednesday, Nov. 28.