Dec. 30, 2011

Box Score

Tampa, Fla. - Grand Valley State dropped a 43-37 decision at Tampa Friday afternoon. GVSU falls to 5-7 with the loss and will next be in action at Saginaw Valley State January 5th.

Grand Valley State jumped out to an early lead versus Tampa as junior center Alex Stelfox opened the scoring. Junior Briauna Taylor hit a three to up the Laker lead to 7-2 and Stelfox hit another bucket in the paint to give GVSU a 9-2 lead with 4:54 gone in the first half. Tampa finally reached double digits at the 7:25 mark of the first half and took its first lead (17-16) of the game with 2:35 left in the first stanza. The Tampa lead didn't last long as GVSU's Kellie Watson drilled a three-pointer 15 seconds later to give GVSU a 19-17 advantage. Briauna Taylor scored the final two points of the half to give GVSU a 21-19 lead after 20 minutes of action.

Tampa scored the first four points in the second half to take a 23-21 lead, but senior forward Kara Crawford tied the game with a layup. The second half was filled with three more ties until Tampa hit a three-pointer at the 3:45 mark to take a 33-29 lead. Brittany Taylor scored a layup to pull GVSU within two (33-31) and Briauna Taylor tied the game at 37-37 with 1:56 left. However, Tampa scored the final six points to claim the win.

Briauna Taylor led GVSU with 14 points and eight rebounds, while Kellie Watson chipped in eight points. Kara Crawford added seven points, seven caroms and three assists.

GVSU shot just 31.3 percent from the floor (15-for-48), while Tampa managed a 34.7 percent shooting performance (17-for-49). Tampa outrebounded GVSU 37-32.