ASHLAND, Ohio – Just a day after routing second seeded Saginaw Valley State in the GLIAC Tournament semifinal, the Grand Valley State women's basketball team had it's worst shooting performance of the season at the worst time, dropping the tournament championship to the top seeded and fifth ranked Ashland Eagles, 70-53. The Lakers shot just 29.6 percent (16-54) from the field, and connected on just six of 25 three point attempts in the game.
 
The Lakers will now await their postseason fate, as they hope to secure an at large bid in the NCAA Midwest Region Tournament. The team will find out their fate tonight on the Division II Womens Basketball Selection Show, airing on NCAA.com at 10 p.m.
 
Kayla Dawson and Janae Langs had 11 points apiece for Grand Valley, who drop to 22-9 on the season. Taylor Parmley added 10 points off of the bench. The game was the first trip to the GLIAC Tournament Championship for the Lakers since the 2005-06 season, when they beat Ashland 76-58 to take the tournament title.
 
Hobbled by a 1-10 effort from the field to begin the game, the Lakers found themselves down 21-7 in the first quarter after the Eagles hit 8-12 shots to begin the first quarter. The score at the end of the first would be 23-13, as the Lakers managed to string together a few buckets to close out the final two minutes of the first quarter.
 
In the second quarter, however, it would only get worse for the Lakers. After a pair of free throws by Kayla Dawson with nine minutes left in the quarter got the margin to 10, 26-16, the Eagles would score 10 straight points over the next minute and a half to go up by 20 points. Lindsay Baker would trim that lead to 15 with a triple at the two and a half minute mark, but the Eagles would add a pair of buckets to take a 40-21 lead into the break.
 
After scoring first to begin the second half, Ashland would see it's 21 point lead dwindle down to just 12, when a Taylor Lutz triple with just under five minutes left in the third capped off an 11-2 GVSU run. That would be as close as the Lakers would get in the period, however, as the Eagles would quickly follow with their own 9-0 run to get the margin back into the 20's, where it would stay to end the third quarter, with Ashland leading 58-36.
 
In the final quarter, the Lakers would again chip away at the lead, getting it down to 12 points once again after four quick points from Taylor Parmley with under four minutes left to play and the score at 65-53. That would be the last points for the Lakers, however, and Ashland would add a pair of free throws and a triple with 40 seconds left to make the final score 70-53.
 
The Lakers struggled to convert shots against the top seeded Eagles as they had Saturday against Saginaw Valley State. The Lakers starters combined to shoot just 11-37, and the team was outrebounded by Ashland 44-28. The Lakers has less turnovers (11) than the Eagles (15)  and turned those into 18 points, but never led in the game and gave up 22 points in the paint while netting just 12 of their own.
 
Langs and Lutz were both named to the GLIAC All-Tournament Team for their performances throughout the conference tournament.