Nov. 22, 2013

Box Score

Nashville, Tenn. - The Grand Valley State women's basketball team got a fantastic outing from its reserves in an 81-68 victory over Truman State to open the 2013-14 campaign. The Lakers' bench totaled 38 points and 16 rebounds to help them blow by the Bulldogs.

GVSU opened the game on a 10-4 run spearheaded by sophomore guard Bailey Cairnduff. The Morley, Mich. product scored eight of the Lakers' first 10 points on a pair of three-pointers and free-throws.

Truman State managed to cut the lead to just one point at the 12:26 mark, but junior forward Kat LaPrarie sparked another positive stretch for GVSU with a trio of freebies. Junior guard Janelle McQueen added a transition layup to put the Lakers back on top 17-12 with a little under 11 minutes remaining in the first half.

Freshman guard Piper Tucker knocked down a jumper to extend the run with 8:52 remaining and poured in a three-pointer 33 seconds later, which gave GVSU a 10-point lead.

After taking a 42-32 lead into the locker room, the Lakers picked up right where they left off prior to the intermission.

The Bulldogs managed to hang around, but never came closer than five points. GVSU went on to lead by as many as 20 points en route to a convincing victory.

Tucker led all scorers with 15 points, 13 of which came in the first 20 minutes of regulation. Cairnduff, LaPrairie, and McQueen joined her in double figures with 11, 13 and 12 points, respectively.

GVSU managed to get to the charity-stripe 42 times and converted 32 of its attempts.

The Lakers will wrap up the Pops Duncan Classic against Missouri-St. Louis on Saturday (Nov. 23) at 1:00 p.m. EST.