James Surpasses 1,000 Career-Points in Hard Fought Senior Day Win over Grace
UPLAND, Ind. – On Saturday afternoon, the Taylor University women’s basketball team celebrated its Senior Day, a day on which the Trojans calmly navigated early adversity en route to a 76-55 win over Grace (17-11, 7-9). Senior guard, Lauren James, led the navigation effort with 24 points, becoming just the 27th player in TU program-history to score 1,000 career-points.
The context of the milestone, though, was thoroughly situated in adversity, as the Trojans found themselves down 13-0 with 6:15 on the clock and 17-3 with just under four minutes to play in the opening frame.
Taylor finished the frame with eight-consecutive points, though, trimming the Lancer lead to six heading into the second. That lead was further trimmed to four at the half, as Taylor Westgate pocketed six points in the quarter.
At the half, Westgate sat with nine points while James had her eight from the first-quarter, yet both were primed for a big third quarter, sparking the Trojan turnaround.
After scoring on its first possession of the half, Grace witnessed the Trojans post 11 unanswered points as the Lancer lead morphed into a five-point deficit. Shortly after, however, the score flipped and read 46-45 with Grace on top and two minutes to play in the third, a point at which Taylor responded with another 10 unanswered points, carrying a nine-point lead into the fourth.
In that third quarter, James was perfect from three, including one four-point sequence after being fouled on a made three-point basket, which gave her 10 points in the third quarter alone. Meanwhile, Westgate tacked on another six points in the third as the Trojans shot a sharp 72.7 percent in the frame.
The nine-point lead heading into the final frame only blossomed from there, as Taylor outpaced Grace 21-9 down the stretch. Senior, Kayla Kirtley, pocketed seven points in the fourth quarter, while James scored six more and Westgate added four to give her 19 points on the night.
While outrebounded 38-31 in the game, at the end of the day it really did not matter as the Trojans shot 46.0 percent from the field and 41.9 percent from three. Furthermore, Taylor limited its turnovers to just 12, while causing 22 Lancer miscues.
Seniors, Merideth Deckard, Lauren James, and Kayla Kirtley, have now posted a 54-4 record inside Odle Arena in their time in a Trojan uniform.
And they’ll have an opportunity to make that 55-4, when the Trojans (14-10, 8-4) play their final home game of the regular season against No. 12 Indiana Wesleyan (23-4, 12-3) on Wednesday, February 16th, at 7:00 pm.
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