Postgame interview with head coach Mike Williams

ALLENDALE, Mich.—It wasn't a pretty, but a win is a win for the Grand Valley State women's basketball team, who survived a half of being their own worst enemies to steal a 46-44 win over Northern Michigan on Saturday. Senior Janae Langs delivered the game-winning shot with four seconds left via a pull-up jumper by the free throw stripe to put the Lakers up for good in the Senior Day contest.
 
The jumper by Langs came just under two minutes after GVSU took it's first lead of the game with 2:00 minutes left in the final quarter. The Lakers had trailed all game thanks to a deplorable shooting day from the field (15-51, 29.4 percent), beyond the arc (2-16, 12.5 percent) and at the charity stripe (14-25, 56 percent).
 
Langs led the Lakers with 13 points in a win that is best described as "gritty". Bailey Cairnduff added 12 points and freshman center Cassidy Boensch had a big day with a career-high 10 points, three rebounds and four big blocked shots.
 
At the onset of the game, scoring was at a premium after Northern Michigan scored the opening bucket 30 seconds into the game. It would take two and a half minutes for the Lakers to answer, and another minute and a half for the Wildcats to score their second basket and take a 4-2 lead. With just under four minutes remaining in the first quarter, the teams woke up a bit, with back and forth play seeing the Wildcats take a 4-10 lead, and GVSU getting two quick layups from Cairnduff and Boensch to bring the margin to 10-8 after one quarter of play. The two teams had combined for nine turnovers and 11 missed shots in the quarter.
 
The second quarter was all Northern Michigan, as they outscored the Lakers 14-6 in the frame. Three straight baskets by the Wildcats opened up a 18-10 lead with five minutes remaining, and after a Langs jumper, Northern struck again to push the margin to 10 points. After a pair of free throws by GVSU's Taylor Parmley, NMU got a pair of freebies of their own to open up a 24-14 halftime lead. The 14 points was the lowest first-half total put up by Grand Valley State this season, and ties the mark set in a game against Michigan Tech in 2008, the most recent sub-15 point first half for the Lakers before Saturday's game.
 
After connecting on just 6-26 baskets in the first half, the Lakers didn't improve much in the opening minutes of the third quarter, briefly slimming the Wildcat lead to 29-23 halfway through the quarter, only to see the deficit grow back to 10 with just under four minutes left. There, the Lakers started to climb back into the game. A free throw by Korynn Hincka and a layup by Lutz cut it to seven, and after a Wildcat layup, the Lakers scored six straight to close out the quarter. That trimmed the lead to 35-32 heading into the final quarter, and the Wildcats would lose leading scorer Bre Gaspervich on the final play of the third quarter to an injury, form which she would not return in the contest.
 
Early in the final quarter, the Lakers twice got the lead to one point on layups by Boenscha and classmate Jenn DeBoer, only to see the Wildcats answer both times. Three straight free throws, two by Parmley and one by Lutz, tied the game at 39-39 for the first time since the first quarter. Northern Michigan then hit a triple, just their second of the game, to seize a 42-39 lead with 2:57 left to play. A pair of free throws by Boensch and a Langs layup gave GVSU their first lead of the game with two minutes left to go.
 
After a pair of Wildcat free throws by Darby Youngstrom gave NMU the one-point lead, Boensch was fouled down low and drained the second of her two free throws to tie the game up with 51 ticks left on the clock.  With the game tied, the Wildcats turned the ball over on the other end, giving GVSU the final possession with 29 seconds left on the clock. After a timeout, the Lakers perfectly executed a handoff from Lutz to Langs, who dribbled to her right and pulled up by the top of they key to hit the go-ahead jumper with 3.8 seconds left on the clock. With the ball at the other end, the Wildcats would inbound several feet back from the three-point arc, and would fail to get a shot off in time, sealing the improbable comeback victory for GVSU.
 
With the victory, the Lakers have now notched three-straight 20-win seasons for just the second time in history, and have reached the plateau in each of head coach Mike William's two seasons at the helm. The 46 points scored by GVSU was the lowest scored in a victory since a 50-48 victory over Saginaw Valley State on January 5^th, 2012, and is the lowest point total scored by GVSU in a victory since the 1978-79 season, when they bested Saginaw Valley State on the road by a 42-31 margin. For home victories, the 46 points marks the lowest total since a home win over Calvin College in the 1975-76 season, a 43-42 GVSU victory.
 
The seven man senior class was honored during pre-game introductions, which included a recap of their career accomplishments, including advancing the team to the program's second NCAA Final Four appearance last season.
 
The Lakers close out their season with a road contest at Ferris State on Saturday in Big Rapids, Michigan. GVSU bested the Bulldogs 85-38 at home on January 30^th.