at Northwood (6-6, 3-4 GLIAC)
Thursday, 6:00 p.m.
Radio: WTKG 1230 AM
Listen | Live Stats | Video l Game Notes

at Lake Superior State (3-11, 1-6 GLIAC)
Saturday, 1:00 p.m.
Radio: WTKG 1230 AM
Listen | Live Stats | Game Notes

ALLENDALE, Mich.—Fresh off a win to open the 2017 calendar year, the #21 Grand Valley State women's basketball team will look to add to a current two-game winning streak with road matchups against Northwood on Thursday and Lake Superior State on Saturday. The Lakers (10-3, 5-2 GLIAC) will face the Timberwolves (6-6, 3-4 GLIAC) on Thursday at 6:00 p.m before facing Lake Superior State (3-11,1-6 GLIAC) on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
 
Fans can follow along with the game action via the links listed above. The Lakers will be broadcast on WTKG 1230 AM, with sixth year play-by-play man DJ Foster calling the action against Northwood, and longtime GVSU football announcer Steve-Lloyd Jones taking over the call for the matchup against the Lakers on Saturday.
 
Grand Valley State's most recent action was a nail-biter, as the Lakers squandered an 18 point lead over the host Storm across the final two quarters of play. Lake Erie slimmed the margin to two points with under three minutes left to play, and a clutch three-pointer from Taylor Lutz and some key misses form the Storm delivered GVSU the close victory, 50-45. The game was an offensive lowlight for the Lakers, who has posted three straight games scoring 60 points or above after failing to reach that mark in both games of the first GLIAC road trip of the season. Against Lake Erie, GVSU managed just 31.6 percent (18-57) shooting from the field, their second lowest mark of the season, and was a dismal 5-11 from the free throw stripe, a season low. 
 
Despite shooting decently from beyond the arc in Saturday's game for the first time in three contests, the Lakers failed to exploit a cushy matchup with the Storm's weak defense, finishing just three points shy of their season low for points, set against Hillsdale (12/8). A silver lining from the win is that for all the struggles that the Lakers had to score, those of the Storm were greater still. Despite shooting a marginally better 36.4 percent (20-55) from the field in the game, Lake Erie was just 2-12 (16.7 percent) from three-point territory, committed 15 turnovers and never led against GVSU. GLIAC leading scorer and newly-recognized 1,000 point career scorer Kayla Gabor was held to just eight points on 4-9 shooting, held in check by the Laker defense.
 
Offensively, the Lakers will rebound from Saturday's performance, and have the opportunity to face the 10^th (67.5) and 11^th (69.8) ranked teams in opponent points allowed on this trip in Northwood and Lake Superior State, respectively. Opponents are shooting 42 percent from the field against the Timberwolves and 42.2 percent against LSSU this season, both averages above the GVSU's eighth-ranked scoring offense (67.1).
 
Northwood, firmly entrenched in the middle of the GLIAC, is having the superior season and thus figures to be the tougher matchup for the Lakers, at least on paper. The Timberwolves and the Lakers split a pair of regular season matchups last season, with each team holding serve at home and dropping the road matchup. A 71-47 Laker rout at GVSU Fieldhouse Arena on January 23^rd was followed by a pitched 84-74 Northwood victory in Midland on February 13^th. A familiar cast from last season suits up for Northwood this season, led by senior forward Jordyn Nurenburg, junior guard Maddie Seeley and senior guard/forward Delaney Kenny. Nurenburg and Seeley lead the team with 16.3 points apiece this season, while junior guard Lindsay Orwat has been a 12.8 point per game scorer as well. The Timberwolves have had a rough go of the GLIAC season as of late, dropping three of their last five conference contests, most recently a 72-68 loss to Ohio Dominican on the road last Saturday. A capable team that can score built around the post play of Nurenburg down low, the Timberwolves are capable of challenging a Laker squad on their home court on Thursday, rankings and records aside.
 
Moving on to Saturday's opponent, the first of two regular season Laker-Laker matchups will take place in Sault Ste. Marie, as a 3-11 Lake Superior State squad looks to defend home court against a GVSU team that soundly whipped them in both matchups last season. Both on the road an at home, Grand Valley State proved itself capable of dispatching LSSU, winning the two games by a combined 57 points. Also returning some of the same playmakers from last season, the LSSU Lakers are led in scoring by Mackenzie Edwards, who scored 20+ points in both games against the Lakers last season and is chipping in 14.7 per contest this season. Contributing around nine points a game in support of Edwards is a duo of bigs, sophomore Rachel Novotny (9.0) and junior Tamara Novic (8.7), as well as sophomore guard Valerie Meissner (9.4).
 
Led by Edwards and her 48.8 percent clip, LSSU is the GLIAC's top 3-point shooting team both in percentage (40.2) and makes (123) this season, while GVSU's efforts (93-308, 30.2 percent) pale in comparison. GVSU's leading scorer, Bailey Cairnduff, leads the team in made triples, with 26, and is converting 34.2 percent of her attempts this season. While the team showed last season the ability to be a top-tier three-point shooting squad, their inconsistency shooting from deep this season has contributed to the overall low point totals and relatively low offensive efficiency.
 
Thanks to an impressive effort on the defensive side of the ball and a GLIAC-low 53.4 points per game allowed, the Lakers own a healthy +13.7 scoring margin this season. While the offense has dropped off from last season, the defense has improved to compensate and then some, as the Lakers have already held 10 of their thirteen opponents below 55 points this season with more than half of the schedule still left to play. Last season, the Lakers held their opponents below that mark a total fifteen times, meaning the current team is well on pace to eclipse that mark and gain an even more impressive advantage in scoring margin this season. Already, the Lakers are +178 in points this season after finishing +504 last season, albeit with a hot-shooting offense.
 
Thursday and Saturday's matchups represent the remaining two games of a four game road slate, as the Lakers will return to GVSU Fieldhouse Arena on January 19^th, one month exactly removed from their last home game. That game against Wayne State on a Thursday night will precede a Saturday, January 21^st matchup with Saginaw Valley State at home.