WINONA LAKE, Ind. – The Taylor women's basketball team carried a four-game winning streak into Saturday's matchup with RV Grace (18-7, 11-4 CL), though the streak suffered a sharp break as the Trojans lost by a score of 55-37.
The Lancer defense was relentless throughout the game, as Taylor tallied more team turnovers than field goals all the while shooting 0-14 from three-point land. The Trojans performed well from the free-throw line, though, shooting 13-15 from the charity stripe. Even so, Taylor was limited to just 37 points for the first since 2014.
Taylor Westgate and Gretchen Moll combined for eight of TU's 12 team field goals, while Westgate finished with a team-high 13 points and now sits just three points away from the 1,000-career-point milestone.
Westgate also posted a game-high 14 rebounds, marking her third-straight double-digit rebound performance and the seventh double-double of her junior season.
Jillian Osswald, meanwhile, shot a perfect 4-4 from the free-throw line, which boosted her season mark to a sharp 92 percent on 24 total shots from the line.
On the defensive side of things, Claycee West recorded four steals for the fourth time in the last five games. Though West alone could not prevent Grace from pulling away from the Trojans.
Grace especially capitalized on a third quarter in which Taylor shot just 2-13 from the floor while committing six turnovers. The Lancers, meanwhile, hit on six of their 13 shots in addition to another six points at the free-throw line to craft an 18-point cushion heading into the fourth quarter.
From there Grace coasted to its second win over the Trojans this season, completing the season sweep while also increasing its lead over Taylor to three games for third place in the Crossroads League standings.
Taylor (15-10, 8-7 CL) is now set to square off with No. 7 Indiana Wesleyan (21-3, 13-1 CL) on Wednesday, February 8, at 7:00 pm inside Odle Arena.
