Jan. 7, 2012

Box Score

SAULT ST. MARIE, Mich. – The Grand Valley State women’s basketball team had three players score in double digits in a wire-to-wire win as the Lakers downed Lake Superior State 74-53 on Saturday afternoon at Cooper Gym.

With the win, GVSU evens its season record to 7-7, while improving to 4-3 in conference play.  LSSU drops to 5-8 overall and 1-4.

Junior forward Briauna Taylor (Livonia, Mich.) tallied her second double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds.  Taylor went 6-for-13 from the floor including three from behind the arc.

Redshirt sophomore Kellie Watson (Ionia, Mich.) tied a season-high with 16 points, while filling out the stat sheet with six rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals.  Watson shot 6-for-12 from the floor including a season-high four baskets from the long range. Senior Kara Crawford (Winamac, Ind.) rounded out the double-figure scoring with a season-high 13 points.  The forward also dished out a career-high five assists to go along with six rebounds.

GVSU shot a season-high 54.9 percent (28-51) from the floor, while also dropping a season-best eight baskets from behind the arc.  The Lakers also dished out a season-high 23 assists.

Grand Valley State jumped out to an early lead on freshman Meryl Cripe’s (Elmhurst, Ill.) layup before LSSU knotted the score twice just three minutes into the game.  Crawford’s jumper gave GVSU a 6-4 lead and the Lakers never looked back. 

Crawford then capped a 10-2 run that gave the Lakers a 23-10 lead with less than 10 to play in the opening 20 minutes.  Grand Valley State continued its hot shooting including knocking down three consecutive threes to take a 33-15 lead, its biggest of the half, at the 6:05 mark.

Lake Superior State shrunk the gap, going on a 14-3 run to close out the first half, but GVSU still held the halftime lead, 36-29.

The other Lakers came out shooting, hitting their first two baskets of the second stanza to pull within 36-33, but that would be the closest they would get.  GVSU buckled down and scored on seven of its next nine possessions to take a 49-38 lead with 12:36 left to play.

Grand Valley State held its advantage through the remainder of the half, taking its biggest lead of the game, 72-50 (22), on Briauna Taylor’s layup with 2:40 remaining.

Sophomore Breanna Kellogg (DeWitt, Mich.) had a season-high seven points on 3-for-3 from the floor and one from the line.  She also grabbed seven rebounds, while tallying three assists and three steals.

For LSSU, Maria Blazejewski led with 13 points and Taylor Greene had 10.  The Lakers were limited to just a 30 percent clip, shooting 18-for-60 from the floor.

The Lakers now return to the friendly confines of Fieldhouse Arena against Northwood on Wednesday (Jan. 11) at 6 p.m. NU won on its home floor in December, 66-59, making the all-time series record 48-14 versus the Timberwolves.