Griffins stumble against Iowa Wesleyan

St. Louis, Mo. - Fontbonne University women's basketball struggled to shoot the ball from long range on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Griffins had Iowa Wesleyan flustered with their full-court press early in the game but the Tigers took the lead to open the second quarter and never gave it up. 

After junior Sarah Schraut netted a free throw to open third quarter scoring, Iowa Wesleyan scored six straight points to lead 41-27, their largest lead of the game until the final minute of play. Fontbonne fought back to an eight-point deficit with 1:37 left in the third quarter but wouldn't get any closer. The Tigers outscored the Griffins 19-9 in the fourth quarter to ensure the win. 

Despite forcing 21 turnovers, and scoring 23 points off of those turnovers, Fontbonne couldn't pull out the win. The team shot just 16.7% from beyong the arc. Kaitlynn Walker led the Griffins with 13 points, followed by Paige Black with 12 points and Sarah Schraut with 11 points. Schraut riled up fans early on when she drew a charge and forced a Tiger turnover immediately after the visitors had called a timeout. 

Griffin senior Emmie Haring and Tiger senior Cairece Allen competed head-to-head in an assist battle. Each dished out seven in the first half but Haring finished the game with nine assists and seven steals. Her sixth assist, a long ball sent to Black for a fast break layup was the 500th of her career. Haring is only the second player in the history of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference to achieve the feat and has 503 on the year with seven games to go.

Allen led the Tigers with 22 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. She finished six-of-eight in the field including three-of-four from long range. Jaimie Hurd scored all three of her trey attempts for the Tigers who finished a red-hot 9-of-15 beyond the arc. 

Fontbonne is at home on Wednesday for a Big Bend matchup against Webster University at 6 p.m. The Griffins then start the second half of their conference schedule by hosting Westminster College at 1 p.m. on Saturday, January 21st.