March Madness continued on Saturday night (Mar. 12) in Ashland, Ohio, as seventh-seed Grand Valley State topped GLIAC rival Saginaw Valley State 63-56 in the NCAA Midwest Region Tournament semifinals. The wins puts the Lakers into the NCAA Sweet Sixteen and earns a berth in Monday night's (Mar. 14) Midwest Region Tournament championship game.

After taking down second-seed and #6-nationally ranked Lewis by a 72-70 score on Friday afternoon in the quarterfinals on a game-winning shot from junior guard Janae Langs, GVSU used balanced offense and stingy defense to upset another higher ranked opponent. Saginaw Valley State, the tournament's sixth seed, has its season end with a 22-9 record.

Grand Valley State improves to 24-9 on the year; the 24 victories are tied for the third-most wins in school history. The Lakers are now 13-9 all-time in 11 NCAA Tournament appearances.

It was the fourth 'Battle of the Valleys' in the 2015-16, with the Cardinals winning both of the regular season meetings by a combined seven points. GVSU knocked Saginaw Valley State out of the GLIAC Tournament semifinals - also in Ashland, Ohio exactly one week ago - with a 76-51 final. Saturday's NCAA Tournament battle was much closer than that contest, but the Lakers prevailed with strong defense late in the game, along with clutch free throw shooting from junior Bailey Cairnduff.

Leading all players in the game in scoring, Cairnduff paced GVSU with 19 points on 5-of-10 shooting (2-of-4 from three-point range) and 7-of-7 at the charity stripe, including a perfect 4-for-4 in the final 33 seconds. Classmate Piper Tucker notched a double-double, as the junior forward totaled 12 points, 11 rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a blocked shot.

After her late-game heroics on Saturday, Langs followed with 10 points, five assists, four rebounds, and just one turnover in 37 minutes played. Freshman forward Taylor Parmley added 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting off the Laker bench.

Grand Valley State shot 43.9 percent from the field and was 6-of-18 from beyond the arc. The Laker defense held SVSU to 33.3 percent shooting and just 6-of-23 from three-point range. Free throws were minimal in the game; GVSU was 7-of-8 (with Cairnduff making all seven for the Lakers), while Saginaw Valley State went 2-for-3.

The game was tied at 9-9 in the first quarter when Langs knocked down a jumper and Cairnduff converted an old-fashioned three-point play, scoring on a layup and making the free throw. Freshman center Lindsay Kusbel buried a three-pointer on the next possession to build a 17-9 Laker lead. GVSU led at the end of the quarter, 17-11.

Consecutive buckets from Parmley and junior Taylor Lutz upped the Laker advantage to 26-16 with 7:14 to go in the second quarter. That was the biggest lead of the game for either team. SVSU quickly scored the next eight points to make it a two-point ballgame, but Tucker hit a jumper and Cairnduff drained a three-pointer to regain a 31-24 cushion.

Saginaw Valley State kept it close and cut the GVSU advantage to 35-32 at halftime. Both teams shot well in the first half; the Lakers hit 48.3 percent of their attempts, while SVSU connected on 46.4 of its first half shots. Each team made four trifectas in the opening 20 minutes.

The Cardinals took their first lead of the game on a short jumper from GLIAC Player of the Year Emily Wendling with 7:52 to go in the third quarter, putting SVSU on top 36-35. That one-point lead was quickly erased on a three-pointer from Tucker and back-to-back jumpers from Lutz and Tucker, as GVSU jumped back in front 42-36. The Cardinals made a late run in the quarter and Grand Valley State took its same three-point halftime advantage into the fourth quarter as well, 46-43.

Parmley and Langs made consecutive baskets to start the fourth quarter and extend Grand Valley State's lead to 50-43. SVSU cut the score to 50-47 before a huge three-pointer from Cairnduff made it 53-47 with 6:24 to play.

It was a 53-51 Laker lead with less than four minutes to go when GVSU made two of the biggest plays in the game. As the clock approached three minutes, Cairnduff stepped through two defenders to score on a nifty layup in the paint. Tucker followed with a running jumper from the free throw line to put Grand Valley State in front 57-51 with 2:21 to play.

After SVSU made the score 57-53 on its next possession, the Lakers forced three missed Cardinal field goal attempts and then scored on a terrific out-of-bounds play. Lutz was inbounding from the sideline and while SVSU tried valiantly to keep the Lakers from getting the ball in play, Langs bolted towards the GVSU basket. Lutz fired a perfect baseball-style pass to Langs, who caught it in stride and went up to hit the layup for a 59-53 cushion with only 48 seconds to go.

The Cardinals did make it 59-56 after a three-pointer from GLIAC Freshman of the Year Halee Nieman with 42 ticks to play, but Cairnduff's four swished free throws closed out the scoring.

Cairnduff and Lutz each pulled down six rebounds for the Lakers, trailing only Tucker's team-high 11 boards. Lutz dished out five assists to go with her six boards and four points.

SVSU led the rebounding battle 42-40, including a 16-7 edge in offensive rebounds. Guard Katelyn Carriere led the Cardinals with 13 points, while Wendling posted 10 points and 13 rebounds, but shot just 5-of-17 from the field.

Grand Valley State awaits the winner of Saturday night's second semifinal between top-seed and host school Ashland and fourth-seeded Drury out of the GLVC. Monday night's championship game is a 7:00 p.m. start from Ashland, Ohio.