LAMONI, Iowa - Central Methodist�picked up a�56-52 win at Graceland on Thursday evening inside the Closson Center. The Eagles (13-10, 10-3 Heart of America Athletic Conference) won their sixth straight game after defeating the Yellowjackets (8-11, 3-10 HAAC).

"Anytime you can get a road conference win, you will certainly take it," Central Methodist head coach James Arnold stated.

A Sami Dunger three-pointer at the 13:40 mark of the first half triggered an 8-0 run for the Eagles. Reigning HAAC Player of the Week Sammie Gathercole nailed a trey with 11:13 left to give Central Methodist its first double-digit advantage, 23-12.

The Eagles�started the first 12 minutes of the game�10-of-15 from the field and 3-of-4 from behind the arc. Central Methodist's defense held the Yellowjackets to only 6-of-18 shooting and 3-of-11 from distance over the same time period.

Trailing 33-17, Graceland went on an 8-2 spurt to cut the deficit to 10, but an old-fashioned three-point play by Brittney Lloyd with 2:46�on the clock�gave the visitors a 36-25 upper hand. Central Methodist took a 13-point lead, 40-27, into halftime.

In the first 20 minutes, the Eagles were 14-of-24 (58.3%) from the field and 3-of-4 (75%) from three-point range. The Yellowjackets were 11-of-33 (33.3%) from the floor and 5-of-17 (29.4%) from distance at intermission.

Lloyd led the Eagles in scoring at the break with nine points and finished the game with the same total. Graceland's Florida Siaosi led all first-half scorers with 10 points, hitting five of her first seven field goals.

"We played very hard and well in the first half," Lloyd commented.�"We ran our sets and when we got it to the right players, we had positive outcomes. We�were able to find�Sammie behind the arc and Towanda (Sutton) inside."

A Sutton layup with 13:44 left in the game gave Central Methodist a 46-35 lead. The Yellowjackets again made a push, cutting the margin to four points, 48-44, at the 8:30 mark after two free throws by Maleta Daughtery, but Gathercole nailed a three from the corner to push the�margin back to seven with 5:30 remaining.

Graceland cut the deficit to 55-52 late in the contest, but the Eagles' Raylyn Nuss converted�one free throw with 17.1 seconds left to ice the victory.

"Give Graceland a ton of credit because in the second half, they really worked hard and made it tough on us," Arnold said.

Sutton finished with a team-high 13 points. Gathercole added 10. Each player also had seven rebounds. Nuss came up with eight points. Nakia Robinson netted seven points and six rebounds.

Siaosi tallied a double-double with 16 points and 18 rebounds. Alexis Robertson had 14 points.

Central Methodist finished the game 19-of-50 (38%) from the field, while Graceland was 19-of-67 (28.4%) from the floor. The Eagles, who�hit their first nine free throw attempts,�were 14-of-18 (77.8%) in the contest and held the Yellowjackets to 7-of-29 (24.1%) from the charity stripe.

The Eagles now own the league's longest current winning streak. The six-game winning streak is�also one more game than the team's win total from all of last season.

Central Methodist will host Avila on Saturday. Tipoff from Puckett Field House is set for 2 p.m.