Feb. 16, 2012
Box Score
FINDLAY, Ohio – Junior Briauna Taylor became the 21st Grand Valley State women’s basketball player to reach 1,000 career points, but the Lakers could not snap their losing streak as they fell to Findlay, 78-67, on Thursday evening at Croy Gymnasium.
GVSU has now dropped seven straight games, falling to 9-15 on the season and 6-11 in GLIAC play, but still remain in a position to make it to the conference tournament. Findlay improves to 14-10 on the season and 8-9 in league action.
Taylor hit her third three-pointer of the game to eclipse the 1,000-point mark and ended the game with a game-high tying 21 points. The junior also tallied her fourth double-double of the season with 12 a career-high rebounds, which included seven of the offensive kind.
Senior Kara Crawford (Winamac, Ind.) also notched a double-double with 11 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. Freshman Daina Grazulis (Marquette, Mich.) rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11 points as well for her second straight double-digit game.
The Oilers jumped out to a 21-3 lead by the 10-minute mark. Then three consecutive trifectas rattled off by junior Briauna Taylor (Livonia, Mich.), sophomore Breanna Kellogg (DeWitt, Mich.) and senior Kara Crawford (Winamac, Ind.) sparked a 17-7 run capped by Taylor’s 1,000th career point on a three-pointer to pull within 28-20 with less than four minutes left in the first half.
GVSU was able to add 11 more points to its total while holding UF to just nine giving the Oilers a 37-31 lead into the half. The Lakers already tallied seven treys in the opening stanza to close the gap. Taylor needed just 11 points to become the 21st player in GVSU women’s basketball history to score 1,000 career points and hit that milestone as the junior tallied 14 in the first half.
Findlay continued with its lead through the opening minutes of the half, taking a 13-point advantage, 51-38 with less than 15 minutes to play in the second half. A 14-2 Laker run closed the gap to 53-52, but GVSU could not get out in front as Findlay kept its distance and took the game.
For the game, Grand Valley State shot 25-of-64 from the floor for a 39.1 percent outing including 9-for-27 from long range. Findlay shot at a 41.9 percent clip on 26-for-62 from the floor and an 11-for-20 outing from behind the arc.
The Lakers dominated off the board holding a 48-38 margin off the glass, but could only tally 12-second chance points to the Oilers’ 18. Turnovers once again hampered GVSU as it gave up 18 points on its 20 miscues.
Findlay was led by five double-digit scorers including a team-high 21 points from Clare Aubry. Kayla Brown tallied 16 points, while Ashley Andrews, Kendra Elam and Carlay Stahl each tallied 11.
GVSU closes out the road portion of its schedule with a game against Wayne State in a East-West showdown on Saturday (Feb. 18) at 1 p.m. in Detroit.
