Grace College’s Allison Kauffman drives to the bucket against Oklahoma Christian Thursday morning in the Women’s NCCAA Tournament basketball game. (Photo provided by the Grace College Sports Information Department)

WINONA LAKE – For the first 28 minutes of action, Grace’s women’s basketball team and Oklahoma Christian had little separation. But the Eagles (18-12) pulled away with a decisive second-half surge to win 74-62 in the consolation bracket of the NCCAA National Championships.

The Lady Lancers fall to 17-17 on the season. Grace has a chance to secure a winning season on Friday 3 p.m. in the seventh-place game at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center.

Grace started sluggishly in the morning contest, trailing No. 4-seeded Oklahoma Christian 17-5 after six minutes of play. The Lady Lancers battled back, closing the gap with a 16-6 run to make the score 23-21. Dariyan Morris was instrumental in Grace’s spurt with seven points and two assists.

The Lady Lancers eventually cut the Eagles’ margin to one in the final seconds of the first half as Juaneice Jackson found Chloe Pridgen for a layup, making the score 38-37 at the break.

It took nearly eight minutes of the second half for Grace to wrestle the lead from Oklahoma Christian. A short 6-0 spurt lifted the Lady Lancers to a 52-48 lead with 12:02 on the clock.

Oklahoma Christian snapped into action after that point, however, with a decisive 19-3 run to seize control for good. Grace mustered just one layup from Morris and a free throw from Micah Pollard during the Eagles’ seven-minute charge, and Oklahoma Christian coasted for the final 12-point margin of victory.

Juaneice Jackson finished with a game-high 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting, and Allison Kauffman added 17 points and six boards. Dariyan Morris chipped in nine points off the bench, and Lindsey Schaefer pulled down a game-high seven rebounds.

Overall Grace struggled with its judgment offensively, turning the ball over 29 times. Although the Lady Lancers held a 37-26 advantage in rebounds, the Eagles outscored Grace 50-22 in the paint. The Eagles’ bench also outscored its starters with 44 points. Roz Hamilton paced the Oklahoma Christian with 16 points.

With a win on Friday, Grace can secure its fourth straight winning season. Before head coach Scott Blum took control of the program in 2004, the Lady Lancers had not posted a winning season since 1992.