March 24, 2006

Box Score

#10 Grand Valley State advances to its first-ever NCAA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship game with a 76-63 win over Chico State Thursday night at Summit Arena in Hot Springs, Ark. The Lakers improve to 32-3 overall, while Chico State finishes their season with a 28-4 overall record. Grand Valley State will play American International College on Saturday, March 25 at 5:00 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.

Junior center Julia Braseth started off the game with a three-point play to put the Lakers up 3-0. Grand Valley then went on to score the next seven of nine points to take an eight point (10-2) lead. Braseth made a layup at the 16:35 mark to put Grand Valley up by 10 points, 15-5. Chico State battled back and cut the Laker lead to one point, 23-33, with 9:02 remaining in the first half. GVSU scored six straight points to go up by seven with 7:08 left. Grand Valley held on to their lead and went into the locker room with a 40-32 advantage.

GVSU came out strong in the second half and used a 6-0 run to take a 16 point (62-46) lead with 8:58 left in the game. Grand Valley held onto a double-digit lead for the final 12 minutes of the game.

"We had a chance to play against a great team tonight," said head coach Dawn Plitzuweit. "Our players came out and played with great hustle and intensity and we now have a chance to play one more game." "As a team, we played with guts and played hard down the stretch," added Plitzuweit.

Grand Valley State had four players score in double figures. Junior guard Erika Ryskamp led all scorers with 22 points, eight assists, two steals, and three rebounds. Junior center Julia Braseth recorded 15 points and 12 rebounds, while sophomore guard Crystal Zick added 14 points, five assists, and five rebounds. Senior forward Niki Reams tallied 14 points, five rebounds, and two blocks.

Grand Valley State has won a school record 32 games, including 21 straight. The Lakers are 60-9 in the last two seasons.