Feb. 11, 2012
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ALLENDALE, Mich.- It was a fight from start to finish, but a last second jumper gave Lake Erie a 75-73 win over Grand Valley State women's basketball on Thursday afternoon at GVSU Fieldhouse Arena.
Despite being down for most of the second half, GVSU sparked an 18-6 run to pull within two points, 73-71. Junior guard Briauna Taylor (Livonia, Mich.) caught the ball on the wing and sliced through the Storm defense to hit the game-tying layup with just over five seconds left in the game.
With 5.7 seconds left on the clock, Lake Erie inbounded the ball to guard Cate Cianchetti who dribbled the length of the floor, and pulled up at the elbow for the game-winning jump shot to take the game.
With the loss, the Lakers drop to 9-14 overall and 6-10 in conference play, while Lake Erie improves to 16-6 and 10-5 in the GLIAC.
The Lakers dropped their fifth consecutive game, but picked up some career- and season-best performances from the team. GVSU shot a season-best 68 percent from three-point range going 11-for-16 from behind the arc, which is also a single-game best for the Lakers this season. GVSU also showed their offensive talents scoring the most points in a game since January 7.
Four Lakers scored in double digits, including a career-high 18 points from freshman Daina Grazulis (Marquette, Mich.) and set a single-game season record with five blocks. Senior Kara Crawford (Winamac, Ind.) also chipped in a season-high 18 points, just two short of her career best. Crawford shot an impressive 70 percent from the field including hitting a career-high four trifectas.
Sophomore Dani Crandall (Eaton Rapids, Mich) added a career-career-high 17 off the bench. Taylor rounded out the double-digit scoring efforts with 11 points and dished out a career-high eight assists. The forward was just short a triple-double after grabbing a team-high nine rebounds. Taylor is now just 11 points away from making her mark in the GVSU 1,000 point club with 989 in her first three seasons.
Both teams started the game ice cold as neither could find a way to score. With almost three minutes of the first half in the books, Crawford scored the Lakers first points with an easy lay up. From that point on Crawford would not miss for the rest of the half, going a perfect 5-for-5.
The Lakers went on a 12-3 run taking a ten-point lead, 19-9, with 11 minutes to go in the first half. Lake Erie began to battle back making it a close one-point game, but a pair of free throws from Grazulis and a deep three ball from Crawford quickly gave the Lakers a comfortable 39-30 lead into the locker room.
Lake Erie came out firing in the second half and were the first to strike. The Storm continued their hot shooting and went on a 10-2 run come within one, 41-40, with 15:54 on the clock.
Turnovers were a problem for the Lakers in the second half as GVSU gave the ball away nine times allowing the Storm to go on a 31-8 run in the first 12 minutes of the half. For the game, the Storm picked up 31 points off of the Lakers' 18 turnovers.
The Lakers found themselves in a 16-point deficit with less than six minutes minutes left in the game. Seven quick points from Crawford, freshman Meryl Cripe (Elmwood, Ill.) and Grazulis started an 18-6 run to pull within two points with just under a minute left to go in the game.
Alyssa Wagers led the Storm with 21 points, while Jen Caiola and Stephanie Rogers chipped in 15 and 14 points, respectively. Rogers only saw six minutes in the first half, picking up just two points, after getting in foul trouble early in the game. Cianchetti, who hit the game-winning shot, rounded out the scoring for Lake Erie with 10 points.
Grand Valley State heads back on the road to face its next opponent as conference play winds down. The Lakers play at Findlay on Thursday, February 16 at 6 p.m. GVSU picked up a 58-41 win against the Oilers last season in Allendale.
