How an NAIA school scored 172 points to shatter the women's college basketball single-game scoring record

Grace College, a tiny Christian school and seminary in Winona Lake, Indiana, is not the first place you may expect to find a dominant women's basketball team. But on Tuesday night, the Lancers produced the most prolific offensive performance in women's college basketball history with a 172-91 win over Ohio Christian University. 

Grace's 172 points were the most ever scored in a single game in an NCAA Division I, Division II, Division III or NAIA women's basketball game. The previous single-game scoring record of 159 points was held by both Grambling (2024) and Oklahoma Baptist (1995). 

Tuesday's victory over Ohio Christian continued a dominant run for Grace, which has now won four games in a row. The Lancers have scored at least 98 points in each game, and all of those victories have come by double figures. After finishing 10-18 last season, including a 3-15 mark in the Crossroads League, Grace is off to an impressive start in this campaign and will hope to get back to the heights they reached in 2024, when they won the NCCAA (National Christian Colleges Athletic Association) national championship. 

How, exactly, did Grace manage to score 172 points in a 40-minute game? This freeze frame tells much of the story. The Lancers ran a full-court press the entire night against the overmatched Trailblazers, even with an 81-point lead in the final 30 seconds. 

A full-court press doesn't guarantee a victory, though. To get a better idea of how the Lancers pulled off this historic feat, let's take a closer look at the game by the numbers. 

172

As previously noted, the Lancers' 172 points were a single-game record. 

81

The Lancers' margin of victory was 81 points, which actually isn't even close to a record. When Grambling put up 159 points -- the previous single-game scoring record -- they beat the College of Biblical Studies by 141 points. 

42, 73

Now we'll start getting into how the Lancers won so convincingly. Thanks to their full-court press and aggressive defense, they forced a whopping 42 turnovers -- five different Trailblazers had at least five turnovers and only one player who appeared in the game (JoLeigh Hamilton) did not have a turnover -- which they converted into 73 points. 

Notably, the Lancers forced 13 turnovers in the fourth quarter and turned them into 21 points on the other end, which emphasized their merciless approach. 

93

The Lancers were not only pressing the entire night, they were pushing the pace as well, particularly off turnovers and missed shots. Even when the Trailblazers scored -- and they put up 91 points -- the Lancers rushed the ball up the floor as quickly as possible. The Lancers scored a stunning 93 fastbreak points, which would have won the game on their own. 

Just look at this example late in the fourth quarter. Despite leading by 71 with less than four minutes to play, the Lancers get the ball out quickly after a Trailblazers basket and throw a long outlet pass to score easily in transition. 

10

Any time you see a team put up well over 100 points, it's natural to assume they made a bunch of 3-pointers. The Lancers, however, only made 10 shots from behind the arc. It was not for lack of effort, however, as they put up 38 attempts. They just didn't have a great shooting day. 

100

While the Lancers weren't having much luck from outside, they were unstoppable around the basket. They shot 51 of 67 on 2-point attempts and scored 100 points in the paint -- enough to win the game without any other method of scoring. 

23, 36

The Lancers shot 61 of 105 (58.1%) from the field on Tuesday. On the rare occasion that they missed, they more often than not grabbed the offensive rebound for an extra possession. Of their 44 missed shots, they rebounded 23 of them for an offensive rebound rate of 52.3%. They turned their 23 offensive rebounds into 36 second-chance points. Even when the Trailblazers were able to force an initial miss, they were rarely able to get a stop. 

40-44

In keeping with the theme of dominance in the paint, the Lancers were an incredible 40 of 44 from the free-throw line in the historic victory. The Trailblazers often had no choice but to foul, and the Lancers made them pay when they did. 

5

The Lancers' 172-point night was a true team effort. They had five different players score at least 20 points: Maddy Poynter (34), Becca Gerdt (28), Emma Sperry (21), Abbie Ritzema (21) and Morganne Houk (20). That quintet combined for 124 points on 43 of 72 (59.7%) from the field. If only their points counted, the Lancers still would have won by 33.