ALLENDALE, Mich.—A dominant defensive effort paced by hot-shooting led the Grand Valley State women's basketball team to a lopsided victory of the rival Ferris State Bulldogs on Monday night, 85-39. The win was GVSU's eighth win at GVSU Fieldhouse Arena this season, and was put out of reach very early by the Lakers, who improved to 15-5 (10-4 GLIAC) with the victory.
 
Taylor Parmley scored 19 points to lead the Lakers in her second straight game in the starting lineup in place of the injured Kayla Dawson. She was 9-11 from the floor and collected five rebounds, two assists and two steals in the game. Senior Janae Langs was the team's other double-digit scorer, ending with 13 points on an efficient 5-8 (2-2 3-Pt.) shooting night.
 
The Lakers shot a nearly season-best .542 (32-59) from the field and .423  percent (11-26) from beyond the arc in coming up one point shy of a season-high in points.
 
Grand Valley State opened up the inside game early, as Piper Tucker found Parmley down low for back-to-back layups on eerily similar possessions to start the game. Minutes later, Parmley would add two more quick layups as the Lakers took an 8-4 lead. A triple and a layup gave Ferris State a one point lead at 9-8, the only lead the visitors would hold in the game, before Grand Valley State got back on top. Two straight buckets from Tucker and Parmley opened up a three point lead with under three minutes left to play, and after the Bulldogs answered with a layup of their own, Korynn Hincka and Langs hit layups to put the Lakers up 16-11 after one quarter of play.
 
The second quarter began with three straight missed shots for the Bulldogs, followed by trifectas from Lindsay Baker and Taylor Lutz to turn a five point lead into a 22-11 lead just a minute into the second quarter. After a few minutes of exchanging buckets back and forth, the Lakers blew open the game with a 10-0 run. A Tucker jumper began the run, and was followed by back-to-back jumpers from Parmley and Langs. With just under three minutes left to play, freshman Jenn DeBoer sank a three-pointer to cap the run off and put GVSU up 34-17. After a lone Bulldog jumper, the Lakers bit back with a triple from Bailey Cairnduff and a layup with five seconds remaining in the half from Parmley to open up a 39-19 halftime lead.
 
Picking up where they left off in the first half, the Lakers opened the third quarter with five straight points to jump ahead 44-19. The Bulldogs would wittle the lead down to 21 points with 5:00 remaining in the quarter, but would get no closer, as GVSU's lead got to 58-28 with 20 ticks remaining in the quarter.
 
That lead continued to grow in the fourth quarter, as the Lakers sank three triples to open the final frame, courtesy of Cairnduff, Langs and Tucker. Parmley then added a layup to push the Laker lead to a comfortable 39 points, 69-30. With the game comfortably in hand, the Lakers coasted to a cozy victory, but not before the reserve unit opened the lead up to a game high 47 points on a final triple by Lindsay Kusbel.
Defensively, the Lakers were stellar, holding the Bulldogs to 28.3 percent(15-53) shooting form the field and 18.2 percent (2-11) from beyond the arc for a season-low 38 point effort. Forward Rachel McInerney was held in check, scoring nine points on just 4-11 shooting.
 
The Lakers benefited immensely from a 34-14 advantage in points in the paint, and used 20 Bulldog turnovers to hold a 27-0 advantage in points off turnovers in the contest. The GVSU bench also outscored their Bulldog counterparts 35-7 in the game, and nearly every Laker that saw action scored.