SAULT STE. MARIE—Sometimes the best offense is a good defense, and in Saturday's 74-46 win for the Grand Valley State women's basketball team, defense led the way from the get-go.  GVSU forced 26 turnovers and held Lake Superior State to a season-low 46 points in improving to 11-4 overall and 6-3 in GLIAC play.
 
Four Lakers scored in double figures in the victory, led by 14 from Taylor Lutz. Freshman Jenn DeBoer added 13 points, while Janae Langs and Bailey Cairnduff each chipped in 11 points in the win.
 
Grand Valley State put forth a sterling defensive effort from the opening tip in this game, holding the home squad to just three first-quarter points, and forcing them into 11 turnovers. After Cairnduff opened up the scoring with a trifecta, she stole the ball from LSSU on the ensuing possession, leading to a triple by Langs and a quick 6-0 GVSU lead. Cairnduff added another triple a few minutes later, and a Kayla Dawson steal gave Langs a layup on the fast break to extend the lead to 11-0. Grand Valley State continued to stymie the home team's offense while adding layups by Lutz and Cassidy Boensch to make the score 15-0. Finally, an LSSU triple with 3:25 left in the first quarter put them on the scoreboard, but the Lakers closed out the quarter with five unanswered points to lead 20-3 early in the game.
 
After LSSU opened the second quarter scoring with back-to-back layups, Grand Valley State scored three straight baskets on layups by Lutz and Tucker and a jumper by Dawson. After an LSSU three-pointer halfway through the quarter, GVSU would lead by 16 at 26-10. With just under a minute left before the halftime break, GVSU went up 33-12 on an old-fashioned three point play by Langs. The 12 points marked the lowest first half point total managed against GVSU this season, previously held by Lubbock Christian (19) on November 25^th.
 
In the third quarter, GVSU would enjoy a 20+ point lead for most of the quarter, with the lead only once going below 20 points. Triples by Cairnduff and Tucker, as well as a three-point play by DeBoer helped keep the Lakers well ahead of their namesake opponent. The third quarter of play was the only one in which LSSU outscored the visitors, but even then it was only by one point.
 
GVSU would outscore LSSU 25-17 in the final quarter of play, including consecutive possessions in which the Lakers hit back-to-back-to-back triples for a 9-0 run, turning a 17 point lead into a 26 point lead. A trifecta from Langs with 4:58 left to play put GVSU up by a game-high 31 points, signaling the end of the game long after the home side had struck their colors.
 
The game was won through defense, as the Lakers scored 28 points off 26 Lake Superior State turnovers. LSSU also converted on only 32.6 percent (15-46) of their shots from the field, and leading scoring Mackenzie Edwards managed just ten points on 3-7 shooting. GVSU, on the other hand, shot 29-67 (43.3 percent) from the field and outscored LSSU 38-8 in the paint and 31-13 in bench scoring.