SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich.—The battle for supremacy among two groups of Lakers ended in the favor of Grand Valley on Thursday night, as the GVSU Women's basketball team defeated it's opponent to the north, 71-49. The victory extends the Grand Valley Lakers record to 13-4 overall, and 8-3 in the GLIAC, is the fourth straight victory for the squad, ad marks the seventh time this season that Grand Valley has held an opponent below 50 points in a game this season.
 
Grand Valley made an impact early on, forcing turnovers on defense and turning those into points on offense, as they have been able to do with regularity this season.  After holding just a 14-11 lead at the end of the first quarter, GVSU outscored Lake Superior State 12-4 to begin the second quarter, on their way to seizing control of the game for good in the quarter. By halfway through the second quarter, Grand Valley had already turned 12 LSSU turnovers into 12 early points, and after outscoring Lake Superior 22-8 in the second quarter, took a 36-19 lead into the break.
 
In the third quarter, the Lakers would continue to extend their lead. With just under 8 minutes left in the third quarter, Brionna Barnett would hit her first basket of the night, a triple, to give the Lakers a 42-19 lead. Despite shooting just  40.7 (24-59) percent from the field, well below their season average, Grand Valley was hot from beyond the arc, using 14 treys to grow it's lead, finishing 50 percent from downtown in the game (14-28).
 
Lake Superior would have it's best quarter of the night in the final frame, matching GVSU in points (18-18), but was unable to recover from the 17 team turnovers and it's woes from beyond the arc (2-14, 14.3 percent). Grand Valley would outrebound LSSU 32-28, and held the lead in second chance points 14-6, and points off turnovers (23-9).
 
Piper Tucker led the way for the Lakers, scoring 16 points off 7-10 shooting from the field (2-2 3-pt) to go along with two rebounds and two assists. Bailey Cairnduff fought through an off shooting night (3-13, 2-7 3-pt) to follow up with 13 points, adding four boards as well.  Lindsay Baker added 12 points off the bench for Grand Valley, all from beyond the arc.
 
Mackenzie Edwards led the way for LSSU (3-14, 2-9 GLIAC) with 21 points, six rebounds and three assists.
 
Grand Valley returns to action on Saturday night against Northwood (9-7, 5-5 GLIAC) at GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.