March 14, 2005

Box Score

Allendale, Mich. - Grand Valley State dominated Quincy from start to finish and claimed the school's first-ever NCAA DII Great Lakes Regional Championship Monday night at the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena with a 62-46 victory. GVSU advances to the NCAA DII Elite Eight in Hot Springs, Arkansas March 23-26.

Grand Valley State junior All-America candidate Niki Reams hit three-pointer for the Lakers' opening points and the Laker onslaught was in full force. Leading 9-8 with 14:21 left in the opening half sophomore guard Peaches Churchwell and senior guard Janine Guastella hit back-to-back three-pointers to put the Lakers up 15-9. Four straight points by sophomore center Julia Braseth and another three by sophomore guard Erika Ryskamp gave GVSU a 22-12 lead. GVSU built a 31-16 halftime lead when freshman center Rachael Willett scored a layup with nine seconds left in the first half.

"We really played well defensively in the opening half," said third-year head coach Dawn Plitzuweit. "We were playing unselfish basketball and finding the open player with ball movement and our defense really sets up our offense," added Plitzuweit.

Quincy opened the second half knowing they had to get back into the game early and the Hawks trailed by 11 (34-23) after Alicia ordner hit a pair of free throws at the 17:18 mark. However, freshman center Rachael Willett scored six straight points in matter of 90 seconds to put the Lakers up 41-25 and Reams drilled another three-pointer to increase the margin to 19 (44-25) with 14:26 remaining. Grand Valley State built leads of 20 points on two occasions in the second half.

Sophomore guard Erika Ryskamp led GVSU with 13 points and became the all-time single-season leader in made three-pointers with the second of her three treys. Niki Reams added 10 points and five assists, but more importantly held all-american Jessica Stuckman to just eight points, including just one point in the opening half. A balanced scoring attack saw freshman center Rachael Willett and senior guard Janine Guastella score nine points each, and sophomore center Julia Braseth add eight in the scoring column. Junior center Jaida Bourke added four and sophomore guard Taushauna Churchwell three. GVSU hit 46.8 percent from the floor (22-47), 64.3 percent from the three-point line (9-14) and outrebounded the Hawks 32-28. GVSU dished out 18 assists on 22 baskets and forced Quincy into 18 turnovers. GVSU improved to 18-0 in the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena during the 2004-05 campaign and the Lakers are now 22-1 in their last 23 games.

Niki Reams was named Most Valuable Player of the Great Lakes Regional Tournament, while Julia Braseth, Erika Ryskamp and Janine Guastella were named to the All-Tournament team.