In one of the most memorable games in GVSU women's basketball history, Grand Valley State outlasted #14 Drury in overtime to win the 2016 Midwest Region championship 62-60 on Monday night (Mar. 14) in Ashland, Ohio. Junior guard Janae Langs - the 2016 Midwest Region Most Outstanding Player - knocked down a pair of free throws with 4.1 seconds remaining to break the 60-60 tie and after a missed Drury shot, the Lakers celebrated their third regional championship in program history.

Grand Valley State won its third straight game in the NCAA Tournament as the lower seed, as the seventh-seeded Lakers topped Lewis (second seed), Saginaw Valley State (sixth seed), and Drury (fourth seed) to advance to the NCAA Elite Eight. Next Tuesday night (Mar. 22) in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, GVSU will take on #18 Pittsburg State, the Central Region champions at 9:30 p.m. ET.

Two of Grand Valley State's three wins in the tournament were against ranked opponents and both those victories came by two-point margins. Moreover, Langs played a huge role late in each contest. On Friday night, the junior guard drilled a game-winning jumper with 3.7 seconds remaining to top #6 Lewis (72-70). Her two free throws with just over four seconds to play on Monday night were the final points of the ballgame. When junior Bailey Cairnduff corralled a missed jumper from Drury's Addy Roller, time quickly expired and GVSU was crowned champions of the Midwest Region.

The Lakers' magical season continues with a 25-9 record, the third most wins in a season in school history. Drury drops to 26-5 on the year; the Panthers had won 16 of their last 17 games, including a very impressive 86-60 victory over host school, top seed, and #3 Ashland on Saturday night.

Langs, the hero in two of the three Laker victories, was the no-brainer choice as the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. She led Grand Valley State with 20 points, nine rebounds, four steals, and two assists. Langs drilled all seven of her free throw attempts in the game. Classmate Piper Tucker notched her second double-double of the tournament with a game-high 11 rebounds, 10 points, three assists, and two blocked shots. Langs and Tucker were both named to the five-member All-Tournament Team.

Redshirt freshman Taylor Parmley nearly equaled Tucker's double-double, as she posted 14 points, nine rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and a steal. Parmley scored 11 points in the second half and overtime.

As incredible as the overtime ending was, the start of the game was anything but that for the Lakers. Drury came out of the gates to score the game's first 10 points. A layup from Adrienne Horn made it 10-0 Drury at the 5:40 mark. Parmley split a pair of free throws with 3:19 to go in the quarter to give GVSU its first point of the game. That opened the flood gates for the Lakers.

Junior Lindsay Baker hit a short jumper off the glass, Tucker drained a three-pointer from the top of the key, Langs made a pair of free throws, Baker buried a three-pointer, and Tucker scored on a layup to cap a 13-0 scoring run for Grand Valley State. After 10 straight points from Drury, the Lakers notched the next 13 points.

Baker's three-pointer was monumental, as well, as she broke a tie with former Laker Jasmine Padin for the most three-pointers in GVSU single season history. Padin buried 73 three-pointers in 2008-09 and Baker's triple in the first quarter was her 74th trifecta this year.

Grand Valley State took the 13-10 lead into the second quarter. The score was 18-17 in GVSU's favor when the Lakers posted an 11-0 run. Junior guard Taylor Lutz drained a three-pointer before Langs stole a Panther pass and raced up the floor to score on a layup. She was fouled on the shot and Langs sank the freebie. Less than a minute later, Langs drained a three-pointer, which was followed by a Parmley layup. At that point, it was 29-17 in Grand Valley State's favor. The halftime lead for the Lakers was 31-19.

As well as GVSU played the final 13 minutes of the first half, Drury played just as well to start the second 20 minutes. The Lakers led 35-21 before the Panthers closed out the quarter on a 16-2 run, tying the game at 37-37 on a last-second layup by Horn.

After trailing by as many as 14 points, Drury regained the lead early in the fourth quarter on a Paige Wilson jumper to make it 39-37, Panthers. The game was tied again at 46-46 when Parmley scored on the third of her four consecutive layups in a two-minute stretch. Her fourth bucket put GVSU on top, 48-46, with five minutes to go. A pair of Langs free throws made the score 50-47 before Drury's Hannah Dressler cut the deficit to one point on a layup with under three minutes remaining.

Leading 50-49, the Lakers answered 16 seconds later on a huge three-pointer from Cairnduff, her only basket of the game. Two-time GLVC First Team honoree Annie Armstrong hit a jumper in the paint for Drury with 2:27 to go, then both teams hit a stalemate. Neither team scored again until 15 seconds to play, when Armstrong again hit a short jumper to tie the game at 53-53. Lutz's last-second three-point try was deflected by Armstrong and the teams headed to overtime.

Armstrong put Drury in front with a three-pointer on an extended possession for the Panthers after two offensive rebounds to start the overtime. Langs responded with a layup on GVSU's next possession and Parmley split two free throws to tie the game, 56-56. Parmley scored on a layup with 2:20 to go, only to be answered by Heather Harman's layup with exactly two minutes remaining.

After a pair of missed shots by Drury, Cairnduff was fouled and the over-90 percent shooter nailed both freebies with 33 seconds left to put GVSU in front, 60-58. Armstrong was fouled on the other end with 15 seconds remaining and the 94-percent shooter drained both to tie the game at 60-60 for the 10th time.

Out of timeouts, Langs raced up court and drove into the paint. She drew a foul on Dressler with 4.1 seconds to go, as Dressler - an All-GLVC Third Team selection - fouled out on the play. Langs calmly buried both shots and Drury called a timeout. Armstrong - Drury's first option - was completely locked up by Lutz (the GLIAC All-Defensive Team honoree), so the ball went to the second option, Roller. She stepped into a 15-foot jumper, but the shot was wide to the right, and Cairnduff grabbed the glance off the rim, ending the Lakers' third straight upset victory.

Grand Valley State shot 36.1 percent from the field and was just 6-of-27 from three-point range. The Lakers made 12-of-18 free throw tries. Drury, the top three-point shooting team in the country, went only 6-of-22 from beyond the arc. The Panthers shot just 34.8 percent overall and made 8-of-14 freebies.

Drury held a slim edge in rebounds 45-44, but the Lakers forced 14 Panther turnovers. GVSU committed 11 miscues. Both teams scored 28 points in the paint and the Lakers had edges in points off turnovers (15-11), second chance points (15-14), and bench points (22-11).

In addition to Langs and Tucker, Drury's Armstrong and Alice Heinzler and Ashland's Andi Daugherty were named to the All-Tournament Team.

Ironically enough, the last time Grand Valley State was in the Midwest Region championship game, the Lakers defeated Drury on the Panthers home floor in 2006. Current Laker head coach Mike Williams was an assistant coach for that GVSU team and second-year head coach Molly Miller was Drury's starting guard in that game.

The Lakers have now won Midwest Region championships in 2004-05, 2005-06, and 2015-16. GVSU won the Division II National Championship on Mar. 25, 2006 in a 58-52 victory over American International.

Grand Valley State is now 14-9 all-time in NCAA Tournament play, including a 3-1 record at the national level.