Dec. 3, 2011
Box Score
Tiffin, Ohio - The women's basketball team got back on track on Saturday (Dec. 3) afternoon behind 25 points and eight rebounds from junior Briauna Taylor to hand Tiffin their first loss of the season, 69-63. GVSU scored 46 points in the second half to overcome a three-point halftime deficit.
Briauna Taylor got the game started with a three pointer only 22 seconds into the contest, but the Dragons would ultimately control the first half. After taking the lead at the 18:31 mark of the first half, Tiffin would not give it up for the duration of the first half, eventually pushing their lead out to seven after an old fashioned three point play with two minutes to play. The Lakers used a three pointer from senior Jasmine Padin and a free throw from sophomore Kellie Watson to cut the lead to three at halftime, 26-23.
Neither team shot well in the first half as the Lakers hit only 35.7-percent of their shots while the Dragons recorded a shooting percentage of 38.5.
Briauna Taylor led the second half off just like the first half, hitting a three pointer only 23 seconds into the half this time to tie the game at 26.
The Dragons responded with a three pointer of their own and then a jumper to push their lead out to five before the Lakers began to take over. A jumper from junior Alex Stelfox cut the lead to three and a lay-up from Briauna Taylor put the Lakers within one. Yet another jumper from Stelfox gave GVSU their first lead since the beginning of the game at 32-31, but a shot from Mandy Jaeb of Tiffin gave the lead back to the Dragons temporarily. After senior Kara Crawford hit both free throws to go ahead 34-31, the Lakers never looked back.
Only four minutes after the free throws, GVSU had pushed the lead out to 10 on yet another three pointer from Briauna Taylor made it a 48-38 game, her fourth trifecta of the game.
After the Lakers had pushed the lead out to 12, the Dragons cut it back to nine before GVSU responded with five points and had a game-high 14 point lead less than a minute later with a Padin three pointer. From there, the Lakers cruised to victory, holding off Tiffin for a six point victory, 69-63.
Brianuna Taylor's 25 points was a team-high and her eight rebounds tied her with Stelfox for the team-high on the game. Stelfox also contributed 15 points while the only other Laker in double figures was junior Lauren Stodola with 11. For Tiffin, Jaeb had a game-high 26 points.
GVSU shot an impressive 60.7-percent from the field in the second half and finished the game shooting 48.2-percent.
The Lakers moved to .500 on the season with the win, now sitting at 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the GLIAC while Tiffin falls to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the GLIAC. GVSU is back in action on Wednesday (Dec. 7) as they finish their three-game roadtrip with a tilt at Northwood at 6 p.m.
