GRINNELL, Iowa – Grinnell College's women's basketball team closed its 2023-24 campaign in style Saturday afternoon, cruising past Monmouth College 81-71 at Darby Gymnasium.
Grinnell celebrated Senior Day (seniors, in picture on the left, were honored between games) by posting its first season sweep of the Fighting Scots since 2017. Grinnell closed out its campaign at 9-7 in the Midwest Conference and 14-10 overall, with both win totals being the most for the program since 2017.
The Pioneers tied for fourth in the MWC standings with Lawrence University. However, the Vikings edged the Pioneers for the final spot in the league tourney via a tie-breaker.
Grinnell trailed 22-19 after one period before grabbing a 40-39 lead heading into the locker room. A big third quarter, in which the Pioneers outscored the visitors 28-19, marked the big break. The Pioneers led just 56-51 with under three minutes to go in the third before Erin Lillis '24 nailed a free throw, Carolyn Pierce '27 added a 3-pointer and Reese Stephens '27 hit another trey to make it a 12-point lead.
Grinnell was up 68-58 after three quarters and got buckets from Sara Booher '24, Skylar Thomas '26 and Nikki Ware '25 to open the fourth frame. It was all on cruise control from there.
Lillis, who finished as Grinnell's No. 7 scorer with 1,172 points, had 19 on Saturday as did Ware. Ware was 3-of-5 from 3-point land and now has 93 treys for her career, eighth-best in program history. Booher nearly posted a double-double, scoring 18 points to go with nine boards. Thomas was also in double digits with 10 points, while Bailey Strovers '27 had nine rebounds.
Lillis added four assists, Aiyana Rockwell '24 came away with two steals and Booher blocked three shots to move up to second in program history with 102 swats. Booher also ranks 11th in program history for rebounds with 473, while Lillis moved up to sixth for free throws made with 255.
Monmouth finished its campaign at 0-16 in the MWC and 2-23 in all games.