Feb. 27, 2007

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Grand Valley State dropped a 63-57 decision to Michigan Tech in the quarterfinals of the GLIAC Tournament at the GVSU Fieldhouse Tuesday night. Michigan Tech improves to 19-8 overall and will advance to the semifinals against Gannon. The Lakers fall to 21-7 and will find out their fate in the NCAA Great Lakes Region Tournament on Sunday, March 4. Coming into tonight's game, GVSU was ranked #2 in the Great Lakes Region.

Junior guard Crystal Zick opened play by knocking down a three-pointer and senior guard Erika Ryskamp added another to give the Lakers an early 8-2 lead. GVSU went up 10-4, but the Huskies went on a 8-2 run to tie the game at 12-12 at the 11:11 mark. Michigan Tech took its first lead of the game on a Sarah Stream three-pointer with 9:37 left in the half. MTU took its largest lead of the first half, going ahead 19-14 at the 7:22 mark on two free throws by Katie Zimmerman.

Another Ryskamp three-pointer cut the lead to two points, but the Huskies came back and hit a three of their own to push the lead back to five points. The Lakers scored six unanswered points to take a 23-22 lead with 2:11 left in the half. Alicia Schneider hit a jumper to give the Huskies a one point lead, but senior center Julia Braseth connected on a three-point play to give the Lakers a 26-24 halftime lead.

Grand Valley came out strong in the second half, opening the 20 minutes of action with a 7-2 run to take a 33-26 lead. Five straight points by the Huskies cut the lead to two points, but the Lakers went on another run to go ahead by eight points, 41-33, at the 14:28 mark. MTU scored the next six points but GVSU pushed it back to seven points with 7:24 remaining. Michigan Tech scored the next 10 straight points to take a 51-48 lead of its own with just 5:03 left in the game. GVSU cut the lead to 53-52 on a jumper by Ryskamp, but the Huskies scored four consecutive points to go ahead by five with 1:12 left to play. The closest GVSU could come in the last minute of play was four points on a layup by Ryskamp with 16 seconds left. Sarah Stream knocked down two free throws with 13 seconds left to give Michigan Tech the 63-57 win.

Michigan Tech shot 51.3% from the field in the game, while the Lakers knocked down just 36.8% of their shots. GVSU forced the Huskies to commit 20 turnovers and tallied 11 steals. MTU outrebounded the Lakers by a 33-25 margin.

Senior center Julia Braseth led the Lakers with 22 points, four rebounds, two assists, a block, and a steal. Senior guard Erika Ryskamp recorded 14 points, three assists, two steals, and two rebounds, while junior guard Crystal Zick added 10 points, five assists, and three steals. Senior guard Taushauna Churchwell posted six points, two assists, and two steals and junior guard Erin Cyplik had a career-high 15 rebounds, three steals, and two points.