APPLETON, Wis. – Through the first half of Saturday afternoon's game, the Grinnell College women's basketball team looked poised to win for the sixth time in its last seven outings.
 
But Lawrence University used a huge third quarter to pull away for a 63-51 victory in Midwest Conference play.
 
The Pioneers, who are 4-4 in the MWC and 8-7 in all games, led 18-17 after one period and trailed just 31-30 at intermission. But the Vikings then went on a 21-7 run in the third period as they improved to 2-6 in the league and 5-10 overall.
 
Grinnell, which had a cold day of shooting by hitting just 27.4 percent of its field goals including 13.8 percent from 3-point land, got a 22-point output from Tyria Heath '21. Ellie Gubbrud '22 grabbed seven rebounds, while Kate Tomczik '22 and Kathryn Stender '21 had six apiece.
 
Sofia Ahooja '22 dished out four assists and Stender added two blocks and two steals.
 
After falling behind by one point early in the second period, Grinnell went to work with an 8-2 run as Stender drained a 3-pointer, Heath made a jumper and free throw and then added another jumper for a 28-23 lead with 4:43 left in the first half.
 
However, Lawrence responded with an 8-2 run to close out the half for a one-point lead.
 
Twice the Pioneers went up by four early in the third period, the first time at 35-31 on Heath's jumper and again at 37-33 on Tomczik's free throws with 6:33 left.
 
But the Vikings closed out the period with a 19-point run and were up 52-37 at the end of the quarter. They never looked back after on their way to victory.
 
During the game, Heath moved up to 13th on the Pioneers' all-time scoring list with 892 points and is 19th in blocked shots with 25.
 
The Pioneers will attempt to return to the win column Tuesday with a game against Cornell College in Mount Vernon. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m.