Grace College women’s basketball coach Dan Davis got a message after the third quarter of his team’s game Tuesday night.
“We start the fourth quarter and our (sports information director Josh Neuhart) is waving me over to the scorer’s table,” said Davis, who is in his eighth season leading Grace. “He had a little piece of notebook paper and it said, ‘A high scoring record 159.'”
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Neuhart was alluding to the all-time mark for points scored in a women’s college basketball game. Grambling (2024) and Oklahoma Baptist (1995) shared the record with 159 points.
Grace, which scored 93 in the first half against Ohio Christian, had backed off a bit in the third quarter when it had already set a school record. After the message was delivered, the Lancers went on a run to cement their place in history with a 172-91 victory over Ohio Christian.
“The style we play, it is super fast paced, pressing, shooting a certain amount of 3s,” said Davis, who shared that the Tennessee women’s basketball team runs a similar system.
“We played shifts, so girls are subbing in pretty much every minute … to keep just that pace that we want to play and that pressure on both sides of the ball. And so we just told the girls, ‘Look, get back to being aggressive on the defensive end with our press and trapping and running, go, go, go. We have a chance to maybe get the record.'”
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Grace scored 49 points in the final quarter to set the record for points in a game for the NCAA and NAIA. For some context, the Lancers had 100 points in the paint and 93 fast-break points. Ohio Christian committed 42 turnovers, which led to 73 points.
Maddy Poynter (Lapel High School), who led Grace with 34 points, said she was skeptical when Davis told the team last summer he wanted to change things up and run a platoon system. She said now, the team is all in.
“I love running, I love playing fast. It’s fast paced, it’s go, go, go, 24-7,” Poynter. who set a team record for free throws made (17 for 17), said. “We are literally just running up and down the court. We’re full-court pressing. We get a lot of traps and it’s just fun.”
The Lancers passed their previous record for points in a game (118) before the end of the third quarter. They made 58.1% of their shots from the field. Becca Gerdt (Valparaiso) added 28 points and Emma Sperry and Abbie Ritzema (Illiana Christian) had 21 each.
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“Honestly, just went out there and played, just had a lot of fun with each other,” said Morganne Houk, who had 20 points, eight assists and five rebounds. “It wasn’t really attempting to break any kind of record. We were just going out there and doing what we do, like we do every day at practice and did it with each other, which is the best part about the game.”
Grace (4-1) scored 83, 98, 109 and 112 earlier this season. They are leading the NAIA in scoring. Davis said the theme for the year is pretty simple.
“We just want to play with that joy and compete,” Davis said. “And we tell them, ‘No matter what the score is, don’t worry about it, we’re just gonna play that hard as we can for 40 minutes, and you know what, what happens, happens. Tomorrow’s a new day, the sun comes up, and we’ll get a little bit better.’ So that focus is really, you know, embracing the now.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Grace College sets women’s college basketball scoring record, system like Vols
