Trailing by 13 points early in the second half while on the road against the league’s second-place team, things didn’t look bright for the Grinnell College women’s basketball team.
But the Pioneers ignored those facts completely, and used a furious rally to knock off Monmouth College 63-57 Wednesday in Midwest Conference action.
Grinnell outscored Monmouth 44-27 in the second half, including 9-2 down the stretch thanks in part to a key 3-pointer and a trio of free throws by Ashley Jeannin ’12. Grinnell shot a sizzling 68 percent from the field in the second half, and 60.5 percent for the whole game.
Megan Huey ’12 posted her third double-double in a row for the Pioneers and Michelle Briggs ’13 her second as Grinnell moved into a second-place tie with the Fighting Scots in the league standings.
Huey had a game-high 19 points to go along with 10 rebounds and two steals, and Briggs accumulated 13 points and 12 boards.
Briggs also had five blocked shots and two steals as Grinnell improved to 8-3 in the MWC and 9-6 in all games. Tolu Alabi ’13 contributed 12 points and three assists for the winners, Jeannin had 11 points and four steals and Rebecca DeGroot ’14 had three assists.
Zipporah Williams scored 14 points for the Fighting Scots, who fell to 9-7 overall.
The Pioneers never led in the first half, trailing by as many as 14 before going into the locker room trailing 30-19.
A quick basket in the second half put the Fighting Scots ahead by 13. However, Grinnell countered with a nine-point run that began with a free throw by Alabi and continued with baskets by Briggs and Huey. Huey then hit a free throw and DeGroot drained a 3-pointer to bring the Pioneers within 32-28 at the 17:27 mark.
Monmouth continued to lead, though, until Grinnell came back to force a 48-all tie on a jumper by Alabi with 6:36 left. The teams continued to battle back and forth and Monmouth was up by a point before the Pioneers got the lead for good on Jeannin’s trey with 2:12 remaining, making it 57-55.
Monmouth followed with three missed shots before Jeannin hit a free throw to push the visitors ahead by three with :29 left. Huey and DeGroot added charity shots to make it a 60-55 lead before Monmouth cut the gap to three with :14 remaining.
However, Jeannin was fouled with :13 left and sank both free throws to seal the win. Briggs added a free throw in the final second to conclude the scoring.
Grinnell is on the road again Saturday to face Lake Forest College. Game time is 1 p.m.
