North Canton, Ohio—Things were going pretty well for the Grand Valley women's basketball team at the end of the first quarter of Thursday's game against the Walsh Cavaliers.
 
In the second quarter, it all fell apart.
 
After both Grand Valley and Walsh started the game off hot from the field, both shooting well above 50 percent, the Lakers held a slim 15-13 lead at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, however, the Cavaliers took off, scoring in bunches and taking advantage of an uncharacteristically sloppy Lakers offense to turn turnovers into points. Walsh outscored the Lakers in the second period 33-17, taking a 46-32 lead into halftime.
 
It was a rough half for the Lakers, as they shot just 1 for 4 from the three point line, and committed eight turnovers for 15 Cavalier points. While hitting 51 percent (14-27) from the field, they were just 3-7 (42.9 percent) from the field. The Cavaliers, meanwhile, converted on 65 percent (17 of 26) of shots from the field and 61 percent (8-13) from the three point line.
 
In the third quarter, the Lakers gained a second wind. Using a quick 11-3 run, they cut the Cavalier lead to 6, 49-43 with 6 and a ½ minutes left in the third, prompting a Walsh timeout.  After the teams traded baskets back and forth for the next few minutes, the Lakers got within five off of a Kayla Dawson three pointer with two minutes left in the third. That was as close as the Lakers could get, however, as Walsh would recover in the fourth quarter to seal the game.
 
In the fourth quarter, the Cavaliers regained their form from the first half, outscoring the Lakers 19-12 in the final term to put the kibosh on the Laker rally and seal the victory.  The Lakers attempted to close the gap, but the Cavaliers had an answer for it all, hitting clutch buckets till the end to earn the victory despite a career high 28 points from Kayla Dawson (9-17 FG, 9-12 FT).
 
The 79 points by the Cavaliers tied a season high in points allowed for the Lakers, and the 66 points scored by the Lakers were the lowest since December 3^rd against #13 Ashland. Joining Dawson in double figures was Taylor Parmley off the bench with 11 points (5-10 FG). Brionna Barnett added nine points, and Piper Tucker had eight, as the Lakers bench was outscored 17-25 by Walsh.
 
Next up for the Lakers is a showdown with Malone (5-7, 2-5 GLIAC), 58-56 winners over Ferris State on Thursday. Tip off is set for 1 p.m on Saturday at Osborne Hall in Canton, Ohio.