WINONA LAKE – Allison Kauffman of Grace College is the reigning Crossroads League Player of the Week.

She showed why on Saturday.

Kauffman produced another double-double to power the host Lancers to a key 73-66 win over Bethel College in conference play in the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center.

Kauffman, a 6-0 junior forward from Fort Wayne, notched her league-leading seventh double-double of the season with game highs of 22 points and 10 rebounds. She hit 9-10 from the free throw line to pace another strong all-around performance.

Grace senior star Juaneice Jackson scored 13 of her 16 points in the final half.  The smooth southpaw from Gary now has 1,544 career points, just 88 behind program all-time leader Tracie Mezera. Jackson, defended well by a Bethel box-and-one in the opening half,  was 5-9 from the field and had six rebounds and no turnovers.

The Lancers, who improved to 7-9 overall and 3-1 in league play, got a huge boost from its bench. The trio of Darian Patton, Dariyan Morris and Heather House led the way as the Grace bench outscored Bethel’s 26-8. Freshman Patton scored 11 points and freshman Morris and sophomore House each added six.

Freshman Angelique Moore powered in 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds to pace a very young Bethel team. Junior Erin Hunt had 13 points and former Penn High School standout and junior Ashley Lutz 10 for the Pilots, who drop to 7-9 overall and 2-2 in conference action.

“It was a good team effort,” said Grace College coach Scott Blum. “We had some others step up and score more for us today. I want us to be the deepest team in the league and I think that paid off today. I thought we wore them down in the second half.”

Bethel, which had not played since Dec. 21, started strong. Coach Jody Martinez’ Pilots, which had lost three of their last four prior to Saturday, led early on 16-7. Kauffman scored nine points and Patton had eight as the Lancers went on a 29-11 run to take a 36-27 lead into the locker room at intermission.

The Pilots came out quickly to open the final half. A 16-4 run by Bethel over the first five minutes put them in the lead at 43-40. Kauffman then sparked an 8-0 run by Grace that gave the hosts the lead for good.

Bethel, which entered the game No. 3 in the nation with 10.1 treys per game, shot 7-23 from deep in the loss.

“The last two days we talked about having to contest their threes,” Blum said. “Our goal was to hold them to five 3-pointers today and we were close with seven.

“I thought we played well in the second half and finished the game well. JJ played one of her best games in terms of not forcing things. They took her out in the first half with that box-and-one and we were stagnant. We made an adjustment at halftime and got more movement for her in the second half.”

The Lancers shot 24-60 overall from the field, including 6-18 on threes. The hosts were 19-27 from the line to a 13-22 effort by Bethel. Grace had a big 38-26 rebounding advantage.

Grace plays its next four games, all conference contests, on the road. The Lancers play at Spring Arbor Wednesday. Bethel plays at No. 1 St. Francis Wednesday.  The Lancers return home Jan. 22 to entertain Mt. Vernon Nazarene at 7 p.m.