Evangel women’s basketball broke a five game losing streak on Saturday as they topped Graceland 70-61 at the Ashcroft Center.
Evangel took a 12 point lead into halftime, 35-23. However, a big third period from Graceland that saw the Yellowjackets outscore Evangel 22-15, brought them to a tie before Evangel finished the quarter on 5-0 run. Evangel built back a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter and hit free throws down the stretch to hold off Graceland.
Allison Swanson led the way for Evangel with 17 points and four rebounds. Taylor Longley added 11 points, five rebounds and three assists.
“Ali came out playing well early and when that happens, it opens up a lot of good things for our offense,” said Evangel head coach Leon Neal. “I thought Graceland played extremely hard and challenged us with their defense. We got stagnant but if Graceland continues to play like that, they’ll beat some people in the conference down the stretch.”
Sydney Vaughn led Graceland with 14 points.
With the win, Evangel’s record improves to 6-13 and 5-9 in the Heart of America conference. The loss was Graceland’s 13th in a row and dropped them to 1-19 and 0-14 in the Heart.
Evangel is on the road on Wednesday, February 3rd when they travel to Baldwin City, Kansas to take on Baker. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 pm.
