Feb. 23, 2008

Box Score

Big Rapids, Mich. - Crystal Zick made sure that Grand Valley State University won her final regular season game. The senior guard scored 28 points on 11-18 shooting in a 69-62 win over western Michigan rival Ferris State. The Lakers finished the regular season with a record of 16-11 (11-7) and earned a spot in the GLIAC tournament. They will travel to Michigan Tech to take on the Huskies on March 1.

Zick's 28 points were one off of her career high. She also had five assists and two rebounds in the winning effort. Kim Wyngaard added 18 points and seven rebounds and Erin Cyplik chipped in another 11 points. Nicole Carr finished the game with a game-high nine rebounds and four steals. The Lakers shot 46.2 percent from the field on the day.

Wyngaard started the game off with a layup at the 19:37 mark and Jocelyn Ingram followed that up with a free throw to put the Lakers up 3-0 early. When the Bulldogs pulled to within one, Zick hit a three-pointer and Wyngaard made a layup to give Grand Valley a six-point lead, 10-4, with 13:02 left in the first half. GVSU gained a double-digit lead with 8:12 left in the first half on a Cyplik layup. The layup gave the Lakers an 18-8 lead.

That lead became 11 points, 21-10, on a Wyngaard long ball with just more than seven minutes remaining in the half. Wyngaard buried another three-pointer with 1:43 left in the first half to put Grand Valley State up by 14, 30-16. Zick hit the last shot of the half, a jumper with seven seconds left, to send the Lakers into the locker room with a 13-point lead, 34-21. Grand Valley benefited from turnovers in the first half, outscoring the Bulldogs on points off of turnovers 16-0.

Zick also scored the first basket of the second half, a jumper 22 seconds in, to put the Lakers up by 15. Grand Valley's lead shrank to nine points with less than 17 minutes left in the game, but a three-pointer by Cyplik at the 15 minute mark reestablished the double-digit lead at 41-29. Ferris State continued to battle back, and at the 9:49 mark, they had cut the lead to three points, 47-44. The lead became two points, 51-49, with 7:39 left.

Zick hit two straight layups to give Grand Valley State a six-point lead. Four straight free throws by Zick and Wyngaard extended that lead to eight points, and then another layup from Zick made it 61-51 with just more than two minutes remaining in the game. Ferris State came to within five points at the 47 second mark, but they were never able to get any closer, and Grand Valley closed out a 69-62 victory in their last regular season game.