Jan. 11, 2010

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Allendale, Mich. - Grand Valley State used balancing scoring and a dominant game inside the paint to cruise to its seventh straight home victory on Monday night (Jan. 11) over Ferris State, 64-41. The Lakers owned a 34-12 advantage in points in the paint and had six players tally eight or more points, as GVSU won its third straight contest and swept the season series from the Bulldogs.

The victory puts Grand Valley State at 10-3 overall with a 7-1 record in conference play. GVSU went 3-0 on its mini-homestand, defeating Saginaw Valley State, Lake Superior State, and Ferris State in the past five days. With the loss, the Bulldogs fall to 4-9 overall with a 3-5 record in the GLIAC. GVSU defeated Ferris State 67-41 on Nov. 30, 2009 in Big Rapids in the first meeting between the teams.

FSU opened the game with a 10-9 lead at the 14:17 mark after a three-pointer from Tricia Principe, but Grand Valley State went on a 19-6 run over the next nine minutes to take a strong 28-16 advantage approaching the three-minute mark. Freshmen Brittany Taylor and Briauna Taylor scored on a layup and a jumper, respectively, to start the run.

Minutes later, junior Elizabeth Van Tiflin drained a three-pointer, which was followed by jumpers from Brittany Taylor and center Alex Stelfox. Brittany Taylor capped off the 9-0 run with a layup and Van Tiflin would sink a three-pointer with 3:05 left to put GVSU on top by a dozen. Sophomore guard Emma Veach would drain a turnaround jumper in the paint right before the first half buzzer and the Lakers took a 33-20 lead into halftime.

The opening half saw GVSU force 13 Bulldog turnovers and convert those miscues into 19 points. Grand Valley State shot just 38.9 percent in the first half, but held FSU to a 29.2 percent clip. The Lakers also owned large margins in points in the paint (18-4) and bench points (11-0) in the opening frame.

Grand Valley State kept its foot on the gas in the second half by pushing its lead out to 41-22 at the 17:09 mark when Van Tiflin converted a layup minutes after sophomore point guard Jasmine Padin drained a three-pointer. With the score at 45-25 approaching midway through the half, freshman guard Lauren Stodola drained a three-pointer, sank a long jumper, and answered a Bulldog bucket with a second three-pointer, giving her eight points in a minute and a half.

At that point, the Laker lead was up to 53-27 and Grand Valley State would hold a 28-point advantage when Brittany Taylor and Van Tiflin connected on consecutive layups. GVSU shot 41.4 percent in the second half for a 40.0 overall percentage, while holding Ferris State to 33.3 percent shooting, including 3-of-17 (17.6 percent) from long range. The Lakers also owned a 41-31 rebounding edge, including 22-13 on offensive boards. Grand Valley State won all of the speciality stats, including points in the paint (34-12), points off of turnovers (29-10), second chance points (22-10), and bench points (28-11).

Van Tiflin notched a team-high 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting and pulled down five rebounds in just 19 minutes. Briauna Taylor added 11 points and five rebounds, while sister Brittany notched eight points and seven rebounds. Stelfox just missed a double-double with nine points and a game-high nine rebounds, while Padin produced eight points and four assists. Stodola added eight points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field.

GVSU heads on the road for a four-game trip starting on Thursday night (Jan. 14) at Ashland. Grand Valley State takes on the Eagles at 5:30 p.m. in Kates Gymnasium.