Grinnell didn’t quite have enough to overcome a 12-point St. Norbert lead Saturday, falling to the defending Midwest Conference Champions, 66-59. The Knights held a 32-20 halftime lead, but were outscored by Grinnell in the second frame, 39-34.
With under 4:54 to play and down by 14, Coach Hamilton put in a reserve squad that had fresh legs and created turnovers. Emily Kolbe ’07, Lauren Meredith ’06, Molly Lewis ’06, Anna Johnson ’07 and Rachel Marek ’06 came in and immediately got the turnover and saw Meredith net two of two from the freethrow line. They came out and were reinserted within a minute and saw Kolbe get a steal. By the 2:14 mark, the group grabbed a defensive rebound and Kolbe converted two freethrows to bring Grinnell within eight points.
With :49 to go, Tai Duncan ’04 got the basket and a freethrow to cut the lead to six, 62-56. The Knight’s Telia Midlikowski made her freethrows to put St. Norbert back up by eight with :30 to play. Kolbe, Meredith, Lewis, Johnson and Marek created a final turnover with :16 left to give Grinnell a final chance. But St. Norbert sealed the win with made freethrows.
Grinnell shot only 32.1% for the game (17 of 53), but connected on 23 of 34 freethrows. St. Norbert was more efficient, making 23 of 48 field goals (47.9%), but had seven fewer points from the freethrow line (16 of 22).
Duncan ’04 scored in double figures again, this time netting 17 points on 6 of 8 from the floor and 5 of 9 from the line. The center also hauled in six rebounds in 22 minutes and now averages 11.4 points and 8.4 rebounds in Midwest Conference games. Katy Bowen ’06 found a way to score and help her teammates score, netting 12 points (5 of 5 from the line) and dishing out six assists.
St. Norbert got 14 points from Midlikowski, 13 from Abbey Johnson and 12 from Shannon Robak. Kelly Krombach grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
Grinnell now plays three road league games in a week, starting Tuesday at Knox. The women’s game precedes the men’s and is set to tip at 5:30. Friday, the women are at Carroll (7:00) and Saturday face Lawrence (4:00).
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