ALLENDALE,Mich.—The Grand Valley State women's basketball team rallied back from a slow start and took control of Thursday's matchup with the Cardinals-at least for a little while. Turnovers doomed the Lakers, stalling out the offense that had ignited in the third quarter after controlling just a slim three point lead into halftime.
 
After a slow first quarter in which the Lakers scored just 11 points and hit just one three pointer, the Lakers started to find their stroke in the second quarter, culminating in back to back three pointers from Kayla Dawson and Brionna Barnett that gave the Lakers a 23-20 lead with 2 ½ minutes left in the second quarter. After the Cardinals mounted a quick 5-0 run to go back on top, Barnett struck again from deep to put the Lakers back on top, and then hit a jumper to end the first half with the Lakers on top, 28-25.
 
Coming out of the break, Barnett picked up where she left off in the second quarter, opening up the scoring for the Lakers with another trey, capping off an 11-3 Laker run in which she scored every single point for GVSU. The Lakers would continue to expand their lead in the first half of the third quarter, culminated by yet another triple from Barnet to go up 45-33 with four minutes left in the third quarter. At this point, the wheels fell off for GVSU, as the Cardinals would finish the quarter on a 14-2 run to erase the Laker lead as the teams headed to the decisive final quarter.
 
In the fourth quarter, the Lakers were outscored by a 21-16 margin. Grand Valley would lose the lead for good on a layup and free throw by SVSU with five minutes left, with the Cardinals up 58-55. Kayla Dawson would get the Lakers within two with a triple with under three minutes left to play, but the Lakers couldn't get out of their own way in the final quarter, missing 12 shots in the final frame and turning the ball over five times, four of which came in the final four minutes of the game. The Cardinals would hit seven free throws down the stretch to seal the game, snapping the Lakers season long five game winning streak.  
 
Kayla Dawson posted a double-double of 17 points and 10 boards for the Lakers, who shot just 40.7 percent (24-59) from the field, and 30.3 percent (10-33) from beyond the arc. Brionna Barnett added 16 points for Grand Valley, which won the battle of the boards 38-36, but lost the turnover margin 19-12. SVSU turned Grand Valley's turnovers into 17 points.
 
Defensively, the Lakers held the Cardinals to just 41.4 percent shooting (24-58 ) from the field, and just 25 percent (4-16) from three-point. Emily Wendling, who came into the game as the GLIAC's leading scorer at 19.8 points per game, managed just 13 points and 8 rebounds on 4-9 shooting from the field., but teammates Halee Nieman and Anna Hall picked up the slack with 18 and 15 points, respectively.
 
The loss drops the Lakers to 14-5 (9-4 GLIAC) on the season, ahead of Saturday's home matchup with Hillsdale at GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.