ALLENDALE, Mich.—The Grand Valley State women's basketball team nearly rallied back to stave off the Bulldogs of Truman State on Sunday evening, but the comeback fell short, as the team dropped a 74-69 decision at GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. The Lakers (1-1) shot 43.4 percent (26-60) from the field but just 17.3 percent (4-23) from beyond the arc in the loss.
 
Janae Langs was the lone bright spot for the Lakers, as she set new career highs with a double-double effort of 21 points (8-14 FG) and 10 rebounds. Classmate Taylor Lutz added 12 points on 6-7 shooting, while Kayla Dawson and Taylor Parmley each chipped in 10.
 
The Lakers trailed from the onset, as Truman State hit one of their six first half three pointers to score the first points and jump out ahead, and the Lakers never took hold of the lead for themselves. Kayla Dawson scored a quick six points in the first quarter and GVSU was just three points down heading into the second period, but Truman would widen the gap in the second quarter.
 
The second quarter began with the Bulldogs going on a 6-0 run to go up by nine points (25-16) with eight minutes still to play. After several minutes of back and forth between the teams, Truman State hit a pair of free throws followed by three pointers on three consecutive possessions to turn a six point lead into 15 points in a two minute span. Despite getting a three point basket from Lindsay Baker at the end of the half, the Lakers now trailed by 12 points heading into the break.
 
Truman State had exerted their will on GVSU in the first two quarters, outscoring the home squad in each and vastly outshooting the Lakers from deep (6-12 vs. 1-11), but in the third quarter the Lakers came out with some added fire in their game. A jumper from Langs got the third quarter scoring started, and was followed by a layup and jumper from Piper Tucker for a quick 6-0 run. Langs then hit a triple to cap the run at 9-0 and pull GVSU within three, 39-36, but the Bulldogs answered with a three-pointer of their own to stop the run.
 
Even still, the Lakers kept putting on the pressure, outscoring the Bulldogs 10-4 over the next four minutes on buckets by Langs, Lutz and Dawson. Dawson's layup at 3:23 tied the game up for the first time since the first quarter, at 46-46, however the Bulldogs would end the third quarter on an 8-2 run to get the lead back to six heading into the final frame.
 
A three-pointer from Bailey Cairnduff with 9:07 left to play got the Lakers within three points, only to see the Bulldogs fire off a 7-0 run to make the score 62-52 with seven minutes left in the game. Grand Valley State refused to go away, however, and cut the lead to three on a Lutz jumper with 2:23 left to play. After a Bulldog layup, a pair of Langs free throws with 27 seconds left returned the margin to three, and her layup 10 seconds later following a Truman State free throw cut it down to just two points.
 
That was as close as it would get for the Lakers, however, as Truman hit three of four free throws down the stretch to seal the game with a 74-69 final score.
Grand Valley State will host a Friday night home matchup with Rochester on November 18^th before heading to Puerto Rico for  a pair of games on November 25^th-26^th.