The Lady Tigers dominated the first half against the Lakers from Silver Lake College, but couldn’t hold the lead late and ended up losing the game in overtime, 66-64.   The Tigers showed little signs of a long layoff and used a strong inside game and tight defense to open up a 34-18 halftime lead.  

The Tigers maintained a 10 point lead with about three minutes to play, but foul trouble, impatience on offense and key turnovers hurt down the stretch as the Lakers hit key shots, including two late 3 pointers to send the game to overtime.

The Tigers got off to an inauspicious start to the overtime period by missing two front ends of one and one free throw attempts and got down by five points early.  However, they weren’t done as Marissa Pelletier scored a bucket off a nice feed from Kerie Rudd with 5.1 seconds to seemingly send the game to a second overtime period.   The Lakers had other plans though, and went the length of the court and scored at the buzzer to win the game by two points. 

Jessica Sikorski had another strong offensive game with 32 points before fouling out late in regulation.  Marissa Pelletier added 14 points, Stephanie Miller scored eight and Kara Cunningham contributed five points in her first action as a Tiger. 

Jessica also led the rebounders with 13.  Kerie Rudd contributed eight rebounds and six assists. 

“Our execution down the stretch was not as good as it needed to be,” Coach Renzema said after the game.  “We took some early shots that we didn’t need and made a few critical turnovers that weren’t really forced.  I like the way we came out in the first half, especially after the long layoff, but we need to play a full 40 minutes to win games like this.”

The Tigers begin a busy stretch of the schedule and will host Andrews University on January 10. 

The Lady Tigers hosted Maranatha Baptist Bible College on Saturday and gave the top 5 ranked Crusaders all they could handle before falling 69-59.  The Tigers fought through early foul trouble and 11 missed free throws to find themselves behind at the half 37-30.  “We came out and played with great intensity in the opening half and could have been at least even if we had made our free throws,” said Coach Renzema. 

Foul trouble forced the Tigers to make some defensive adjustments and it worked early in the second half as the ladies came back to tie the game at 49.  Unfortunately, the rally was short-lived and the Crusaders hit back-to-back three pointers after a time out to seal the victory for the guests. “We were forced to do some things defensively we haven’t practiced a lot and it hurt us down the stretch”, Coach Renzema added.  “Our girls played very hard and gave a great effort today.”

Jessica Sikorski (Wyoming Park) played another strong game and led the Lady Tigers with 25 points, 17 rebounds, three assists and two blocks.  Kerie Rudd (Battle Creek Pennfield) had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Marissa Pelletier (Calvin Christian) added 11 points and 10 boards. 

The Lady Tigers will enjoy some time off for Christmas break and will be back in action on January 7 when they will host Silver Lake College. 

The Lady Tigers took time to go to Coach Renzema’s house to celebrate Stephanie Millers birthday and to make crafts with Kathie Renzema. Bev Wallace also joined in the fun. They made snowmen that turned out great.

The Lady Tigers rode strong defense and sharp offensive execution to jump out to a commanding 45-15 lead at the half against a strong Dallas Christian team.  Stephanie Miller came out on fire in the first half, making her first five shots from beyond the arc and playing strong defense on Dallas Christian’s leading scorer, to lead the way out of the gate for the Lady Tigers.

“We could not have played a better half”, commented Coach Renzema after the game.  “We saw last night how good this Dallas Christian team is.  They made 15 3-point shots last night in the opener, so we knew we had to come out and play well defensively.  Holding that team to 15 points in a half is quite an accomplishment and we showed what kind of team we can be.”

Jessica Sikorski led the balanced scoring effort with 18 points, followed by Stephanie Miller with 17 and Marissa Pelletier with 11 to pace the scoring.  Kerie Rudd added eight and Cassie Hidalgo and Naomi Walker each chipped in with four. 

The Lady Tigers worked the boards for a commanding 54-31 rebounding advantage.  Jessica paced the team with 17 rebounds, Marissa had 11 and Kerie had 10. 

The Lady Tigers will be back in action at the Aldrich Center on Saturday, December 17 when they host Maranatha, currently ranked #2 in the nation.  Come out and support the team as they look to establish themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the midwest region. 

The shot that broke the record!

Jessica Sikorski Went into the first game of the Grace Christmas Invitational needing only one point to break Val Payne’s career point total of 2097. She did that and more scoring 23 points grabbing 18 rebounds to lead the Tigers to a 72 – 14 victory. Our girls passed the ball better than we have all year stated Coach Renzema. With each game we are getting better and better.

Others scoring for the Tigers, Marissa Pelletier had 11 with 14 rebounds followed by Cassie Hidalgo 11, Kerie Rudd 10, Stephanie Miller 9, and Naomi Walker and Ashton Willis with 4 each.

The Tigers Play Dallas Christian Saturday in the finals of the Grace Christmas Invitational at 3:00 PM. Kuyper takes on Crossroads at 1:00.

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

The Lady Tigers fought hard the entire game, but cold shooting and the much taller Moody Archers were too much to overcome as they fell 67-61.  The Tigers were down by nine at the half and were down by as much as 18 points mid-way through the second half when they started to rally.  Kerie Rudd caught fire from the 3 point line and the Tigers took a 1 point lead at 57-56.  Unfortunately, the lead was short-lived as Moody hit a put-back, a difficult 3 pt shot, and made their free throws down the stretch to seal their victory. 

Jessica Sikorski led the Tigers with 27 points, Kerie Rudd finished with 13, Marissa Pelletier had seven and Stephanie Miller finished with six points. 

Jessica was also the leading rebounder with 11.  Marissa added seven and Stephanie with six were also solid rebounders for the Tigers.  The much taller Archers, with a front line that goes 6-3, 6-2 and 6-0, outrebounded the Lady Tigers 57-32.

“I was really proud of how the team fought back and never quit tonight,” said Coach Renzema after the game.  “We’ll learn a lot from this game tonight and hopefully will be able to win some games later in the season because of this experience.”

The Lady Tigers hope to get back on the winning track on Saturday as they take on Emmaus.

      On a cold night in Rochester MN in a small dark gym, Jessica did what many college players only wish they could do. She scored her 2000th point in her forth year at Grace. It was her 18th point on her way to scoring 29 that night.

Jessica has been a 4 year started at Grace and has been All region the first 3 years. She is also a two time All American in the NCCAA and the ACCA. She is presently only 41 points short of Val Paynes all time record of 2097.