by By Ted Schultz, Grinnell Athletics
GRINNELL, Iowa – Hot shooting from the free throw line, including a school-record individual effort, was not quite enough to overcome as the Grinnell College women’s basketball team dropped a 76-73 home thriller to Knox College Saturday afternoon.
Grinnell’s Tyria Heath (Mohican/Menominee) tied a school record by shooting 100 percent from the line. She made all 11 of her shots while scoring a game-high 22 points. As a team, the Pioneers shot a sizzling 91.3 percent by hitting 21-of-23 shots. That is tied for eighth-best in program history.
Also in double digits for the Pioneers, who are 5-5 in the Midwest Conference and 9-8 overall, were Kate Tomczik ’22 with 17 points and Kathryn Stender ’21 with 14. Ellie Gubbrud ’22 added 11 rebounds and two blocks, Emmy Nyquist ’23 had a career-high three steals to go with three assists and Sofia Ahooja ’22 came up with two steals.
Grinnell led 13-11 after one period and extended the cushion to eight by scoring the first six points of the second quarter as Stephany Dos Santos ’21 made a free throw, Annie Filkins ’23 drained a 3-pointer and Tomczik hit two free throws.
However, Knox rallied and went ahead 36-35 by halftime. After the Prairie Fire, who are 5-5 in the league and 10-7 in all games, went up by five late in the third period, Grinnell raced back as Sasha Thomas ’22 connected on a trey and Claire Collier ’21 made two free throws to tie things up. Another Thomas 3-pointer near the end of the quarter gave the Pioneers a 56-55 lead.
Knox began pulling away in the fourth period before the Pioneers rallied, three times going up by a point. The last of those instances was at 73-72 on Heath’s layup with 1:27 left.
Knox countered with a layup of its own and was trying to preserve the lead when Nyquist used her quick hands to get a steal. However, the Pioneers could not convert and the Prairie Fire made two free throws with a second to go to account for the final score.
During the game, Heath moved up to 12th on Grinnell’s career free throws chart with 204 and Tomczik into the 18th spot on the blocked shots list with 26.
