Dec. 29, 2011
Box Score
Lakeland, Fla. - The Grand Valley State women's basketball team was on the short end of a 62-51 decision to 20th-ranked Florida Southern on Thursday (Dec. 29) afternoon to begin their two-game Florida holiday trip.
The game began as a back-and-forth affair as the Lakers jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a fast-break lay-up from senior Jasmine Padin and a lay-up from junior Briauna Taylor, the start of her big day, made it a 4-2 Laker advantage. Six straight points from Florida Southern gave the Mocs an 8-4 advantage before Taylor hit a three-pointer to pull within one. At the 14:03 mark, junior Alex Stelfox gave the lead back to the Lakers with a lay-up of her own to make it a 9-8 game but a Florida Southern jumper on the other end gave the lead back to the Mocs that they wouldn't relinquish for the rest of the contest.
GVSU trailed by as much as nine in the first half at 30-21, but an old-fashioned three-point play from Briauna Taylor with half a minute remaining in the half made it a 30-24 deficit for the Lakers heading in to the locker room.
In the second half, the Lakers were able to pull within five at 35-30 following a free throw from junior Brittany Taylor, but the Mocs would eventually edge their lead out to 15 with only 2:41 to play in the game as 20th-ranked Florida Southern held on for the 62-51 victory.
The Lakers struggled from every part of the floor, hitting only 31.3-percent of their total field goals, 13-percent of their three-point attempts and 61.5-percent from the charity stripe.
Briauna Taylor led all scorers with 22 points and had a team-high eight rebounds. Stelfox was the only other Laker in double figures as she had 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting with six rebounds. Padin tied a career-high with seven steals while also contributing four assists.
Florida Southern was led by Michaela Hawley's double-double of 20 points and 12 rebounds.
GVSU is now 5-6 on the season and has yet to put together either a winning or losing streak. They'll look to get back on the winning side of things on Friday (Dec. 30) evening when they take on Tampa at 6 p.m.
