The Lady Tigers stumbled out of the gate against a hard-working Emmaus squad on Saturday at the Tip-Off Tournament at Northland, but pulled away in the second half to come away with a 20 point victory, 55-35.   Emmaus came out with a lot of energy and held Grace in check early in the game.  The first half ended with Grace holding a slim 25-21 lead. 

The Lady Tigers came out with a lot more energy in the second half with increased defensive intensity and pushed the tempo to create some easier scoring opportunities.  “Naomi Walker and Cassie Hidalgo did a much better job of pushing the ball up the floor in the second half, which didn’t allow Emmaus to set up their defense and got us some easy baskets,” said Coach Renzema after the game.  “Defensively, the game was completely different in the second half.  We played with a lot more energy and were able to keep Emmaus from doing what they wanted to do in their half-court offense.”

Kerie Rudd (Battle Creek Pennfield) had another solid all around game and led the Tigers in scoring with 15 points.  Jessica Sikorski (Wyoming Park) had 14 pts, Marissa Pelletier (Calvin Christian) had 12 pts, Stephanie Miller (Wyoming Rogers) added six, and Naomi Walker (Calvert Co, Md) and Cassie Hidalgo (Phoenix, Az) added four points each. 

Rebounding was a key for the Tigers as they overcame cool shooting by grabbing 27 offensive rebounds.   Jessica led the way with 13 rebounds, Kerie had 12 and Marissa added nine as the Tigers enjoyed a 46-34 rebounding advantage. 

“It is going to be nice to play some home games for a while,” Coach Renzema added.  “We have been on the road an awful lot to start the season and we look forward to playing some games without having to stay in hotels.” 

The Lady Tigers will be hosting Crossroads College (MN), Dallas Christian (TX), and Kuyper College in their Christmas tournament on December 9-10. 

The Tigers came out a little flat The Tigers didn’t shoot the ball well, but made up for it by collecting 27 offensive reboun