by By Ted Schultz
GRINNELL, Iowa – Wednesday night’s Midwest Conference win was special not only for one Grinnell College women’s basketball player, but the Pioneer team overall.
Tyria Heath (Mohican/Menominee) became just the 10th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point milestone as her 28-point output lifted Grinnell to a 66-49 win over Beloit College at Darby Gymnasium.
The victory was huge for the Pioneer team as a whole, as it snapped a three-game losing streak and kept Grinnell in the thick of the MWC Tournament hunt with a 6-7 league mark and 10-10 record overall. Beloit fell to 1-12 in the league and 3-17 in all games.
Heath did her damage on 12-of-19 shooting from the field while also posting two steals in the game. But plenty of Pioneers contributed to the win, as Kate Tomczik ’22 and Annie Filkins ’23 had eight points each and Sofia Ahooja ’22 five assists.
Emmy Nyquist ’23 had a career-best eight rebounds and Claire Collier ’21 a career-best two blocks. Kathryn Stender ’21 added two blocks and two steals and Ellie Gubbrud ’22 two steals.
The Pioneers, who stretched their home winning streak to six over Beloit, never had any trouble. Despite Heath getting in early foul trouble and not playing a good chunk of the first period, the Pioneers used a 13-1 run to turn a 6-4 lead into a 19-5 cushion. Nyquist began the spurt with a jumper, Ahooja hit two free throws and Tomczik a layup for a 12-4 lead. Stephany Dos Santos ’21 followed with a layup and, after a Beloit free throw, Filkins drained a 3-pointer and layup.
Beloit scored at the end of the period to make it 19-7, but Grinnell erupted for 22 points in the second period to make it a 41-23 halftime lead. The Pioneers maintained in the third period and led 55-38 at its conclusion.
Heath needed four points in the fourth period to reach 1,000 and got just that. She made a driving layup at the 5:12 mark and added a left-handed layup with 4:35 left to reach the milestone, the first since Kayla Morrissey to do so. Grinnell continued from there to secure the key victory.
Heath is now 10th on the program’s career scoring chart and 16th in steals with 91. On the Pioneers’ season-best list, Heath’s 452 points rank ninth, 166 field goals are seventh and 105 free throws seventh. As a team, Grinnell has made 306 free throws this season, sixth-best in program history.
