The William Jewell College women's basketball team rang in the New Year with a non-conference tilt against former Heart of America Athletic Conference foe Graceland University on Monday evening at the Mabee Center.  The Cardinals hung on for a 79-69 win to improve to 5-5 on the season.  The Yellowjackets fall to 1-10 on the season.
 
Jewell used an 11-3 run after the first media timeout to lead 21-12 after the first quarter.  Jewell also forced five first quarter turnovers.
 
Jewell forced eight more turnovers in the second quarter and built a commanding 46-27 lead at halftime. 
 
The Yellowjackets came out of halftime on a 6-0 run before Jewell responded with an 8-1 run to go up by 20.  Maddie Nelson grabbed her 11th rebound of the game in the third quarter which was her 500th career rebound and Jewell led 62-46 after three quarters of play.  Her 17 rebounds for the game tied a Jewell single game record. 
 
Graceland outscored the Cardinals in the fourth quarter and cut Jewell's lead to seven with 4:36 to play.  Jewell used a clutch three pointer from Ryann Fisher and clutch free-throws to close out the win. 
 
Nelson led all scores with a career-high 23 while Katie Finn added 13.  Kayla Harrell and Fisher were the other Cardinals in double figures with 12 and 11 respectively. 
 
The Cardinals will return to Great Lakes Valley Conference play when they travel to Evansville, Ind., on Thursday to take on Southern Indiana at 5:30 p.m.