Lewis & Clark knocked off the Grinnell College women's basketball team by an 87-68 score in the opening round of the Colorado College Thanksgiving Invitational Friday afternoon in Colorado Springs.

The Pioneers, 0-2 on the season, will meet Aurora University at 2 p.m. Grinnell time Saturday in the consolation game. The host school, a 75-64 winner over Aurora, will take on Lewis & Clark for the title after that.

Grinnell was paced by a balanced scoring attack in the game, led by a 17-point output from Jessica Shotts '10. Mallory Scharf '11 and Hannah Wolf '08 added 15 and 13 points, respectively. Scharf also had seven rebounds, Wolf four assists and Brianna Gallo '11 four assists and two steals. Crystal Castle of Lewis & Clark led all scorers with 31 points.

Grinnell stayed close the entire first half and even led 30-29 at the 4:25 mark following Wolf's 3-pointer before Lewis & Clark took a 40-36 lead into the locker room. The winners then began the second half with a flurry to pull away, using a 13-4 run to go up 53-40 with 15:25 left in the game.

Lewis & Clark built that lead to as many as 17 before Grinnell gave one last run, coming within 11 when a free throw by Kate Norton '11 made it 69-58 with 8:04 left. But that's as close as it got as Lewis & Clark secured the victory.

Box Score