Box Score

The Grand Valley State women's basketball team responded to their loss to Ashland on Thursday with a resounding 70-54 victory over Lake Erie on Saturday (Dec. 5) at the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. The win improves the Lakers to 5-2 overall and 1-1 in conference play, while the Storm drops to 4-3 overall and 1-1 in the GLIAC.

Brionna Barnett and Piper Tucker led the way for the squad with 19 and 11 points, respectively, as the team went wire-to-wire in their first GLIAC win of the season. Tucker also contributed on the defensive end with four steals and seven rebounds, while Barnett dished out four assists in the win.

The Lakers got off to a hot start in the first quarter, jumping out to an eight point lead before the media timeout thanks to four two-pointers and a pair of threes to make it 14-6 early. The Laker lead ballooned to 16 after a 10-2 run was started by a pair of free throws by Korynn Hincka (4 pts., 5 reb.) and concluded by a trey from Lindsay Baker (9 pts.) to end the quarter with GVSU up big on the visiting Storm.

Grand Valley State continued the offensive onslaught into the second half, dropping 12 points on the visitors but also saw their lead shrink thanks to sharp shooting by the Storm. Seven consecutive points brought Lake Erie to within seven of the hosts, but a Baker three and a Tucker layup put the lead back at 10. A pair of free throws and a three-pointer later, the Lakers would go into the half with a 37-30 lead over the Storm.

Barnett would come to life in the third quarter, scoring seven points after the break in a 14-point outing that brought the lead back to 10 points for the hosts. Tucker also chipped in four points during the quarter and Taylor Lutz (5 pts., 6 reb.) connected on her only three-point attempt of the contest.

The Storm brought the deficit to single digits with six consecutive points, but a lay-up from Kayla Dawson (6 pts., 7 reb.) was the first of seven unanswered points for the host Lakers. With the Storm looking to make it another single-digit game, Bailey Cairnduff (8 pts., 2 reb.) buried a three the start a 7-1 run for GVSU to finally put away their opponent.

Grand Valley State is now on the road to Ohio for the next two games as they continue conference play. The Lakers are at Tiffin on Friday (Dec. 11) at 6 pm before taking on Ohio Dominican on Sunday (Dec. 13) at 1 pm.