GVSU-SVSU Video Recap

ALLENDALE, Mich.—The Grand Valley State women's basketball team earned a third straight victory on Saturday afternoon, defeating Saginaw Valley State 63-57 at GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. The Lakers led for the majority of the contest in knocking off the GLIAC North Division leading Cardinals, and now sport a 13-3 overall (8-3 GLIAC) record on the season. SVSU falls to 13-4 and 9-2 in GLIAC play.
 
Three seniors paved the way for GVSU in the contest, as Janae Langs (15 points, seven rebounds), Piper Tucker (14 points, six rebounds) and Taylor Lutz (13 points, seven rebounds) formed a triple threat in the game. The trio combined to shoot 16-28 from the field and 6-11 from three-point range.
 
Having played each other four times last season, the two teams were intimately familiar with each other heading into Saturday's matchup. Last season, SVSU took both regular season contests from the Lakers, only to be beaten in the GLIAC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament by Grand Valley State, the latter ending their season.
 
The crucial step in beating the Cardinals was holding the duo of Emily Wendling and Katelyn Carriere in check, while limiting the damage done by the rest of Saginaw Valley State's team. Carriere scored a game-high 18 points, including the final eleven SVSU points as the team attempted to rally. Wendling finished with 15 points on 7-14 shooting, but had to earn all of her points in the game. Aside from that duo, no Cardinal scored more than eight points.
 
Saturday's game began much the same way as Thursday's Laker victory over Wayne State, as GVSU jumped out to a quick lead by scoring the game's first seven points. The Cardinals then woke up, going on a 9-0 run of their own to get on top, 11-9 with four minutes remaining in the first quarter on a trifecta by Halee Nieman. A jumper and a layup by Langs put the Lakers back up by two, and Lutz ended the quarter with a layup at the buzzer to make the score 15-11 in favor of the home side.
 
The opening minutes of the second quarter saw the two teams exchanged baskets back and forth, but after a Wendling jumper with 5:52 remaining, GVSU got a triple from Tucker, one of her four on the day, followed by a jumper form Bailey Cairnduff to go ahead by eight points (25-17) briefly. After more back and forth between the two teams, Lutz hit a triple with a minute and a half remaining to go ahead by seven, only to see the Cardinals answer with a layup to end the first half. At the halftime break, GVSU held a 30-25 lead over the Cardinals.
 
Once the third quarter began, Wendling hit a jumper to trim the lead to three, but the Lakers answered back with a Cairnduff triple, a free throw by Kayla Dawson and a Langs layup two minutes later to jump ahead by nine, 36-27. An old-fashioned three point play by Wendling with 6:42 remaining in the qurter, followed by another layup one and a half minutes later, trimmed the lead to just four. Later in the third, a Nieman triple would half the Laker lead of six, bringing the margin to 42-39 with 1:19 remaining, but the Lakers got a pair of free throws by Taylor Parmley to go back up by five to end the quarter.
 
Grand Valley State had a torrid start to the fourth quarter, as Langs opened the scoring with a trifecta, followed by a layup from Parmley and another triple from Tucker to take a 52-39 lead with 7:30 left. As time wound down in the fourth, the Cardinals slowly chipped away at the lead, twice dropping it down to eight points only to see the Lakers answer in response. A Tucker triple with 1:07 seemed to be the nail in the coffin for the Cardinals, putting the Lakers up 59-48, but Carriere would hit triples on three straight possessions to keep SVSU in the game. Two pairs of free throws, one each by Langs and Cairnduff, would be the difference in holding off the visitors, as the latter pair with eleven ticks left on the clock were the final scoring in the game.
 
GVSU did not completely shut down the SVSU offense, as the Cardinals finished 24-56 (42.9 percent) from the field and 8-17 (47.1 percent) from three-point territory. However the Lakers forced 16 Cardinal turnovers, and limited the offense of Saginaw Valley State enough to earn the victory. The Lakers did out-rebound the Cardinals, but yielded an advantage in points in the paint (24-18) and points off turnovers (16-7).
 
Next up for the Lakers is the annual Northern Michigan trip, where they hit the road to  Michigan Tech on Thursday and Northern Michigan on Saturday. Both teams are nipping at the heels of GVSU in the GLIAC North Division Standings, which has the makings of another tight race as the season starts to wind down.