ALLENDALE, Mich.— The Grand Valley State women's basketball team jumped out to an early 15-0 lead and never looked back, leading from wire-to-wire in a 73-52 defeat of Northwood on Thursday at GVSU Fieldhouse Arena in Allendale, Michigan. The victory avenges a 60-53 loss to Northwood earlier in the season, and improves the Lakers to 17-6 on the season, and 12-5 in the GLIAC.
Janae Langs was dynamic for the Lakers, posting a double-double with 20 points (8-14 FG) and matching her career-high with 13 rebounds.
Taylor Parmley chipped in 14 points and
Piper Tucker added 10.
The game began in ideal fashion for the Lakers, as they held Northwood scoreless for the first six minutes of the game, scoring the first 15 points of the game themselves.
Bailey Cairnduff got the action started with a pair of free throws, followed by two quick layups from
Taylor Lutz and Tucker, and a Langs jumper. At the six minute mark, Cairnduff hit a triple to make the lead 11-0, followed by the back end of a pair of free throws from freshman
Cassidy Boensch. Finally, a trifecta from
Jenn DeBoer would cap off the run. Uncharacteristically for GVSU, the team would shoot just 10 triples in the game, and the two early Laker triples were half of what they would sink in the entire game, finishing 4-10 (.400) from beyond the arc in the contest.
Northwood would close out the quarter on an 11-6 run, with eight of those points coming from guard Sami Stormont, but a Parmley layup to end the quarter put the home squad up by a firm 21-11 lead after one quarter. Northwood played most of the first half without leading scorer Jordyn Nurenburg, who picked up two quick fouls and spent most of the two quarters on the bench.
The teams would begin the second quarter by trading baskets for the opening minutes of the frame, after which Parmley would hit a layup and a free throw to make the score 27-16 with 7:25 remaining in the second quarter. Shortly thereafter, Langs sank a jumper and DeBoer added a second triple to extend the lead to 33-16. Following a Timberwolves jumper, Tucker added a triple of her own to extend the lead to 18, albeit briefly. A quick five points by Northwood briefly trimmed the lead, but the Lakers ended the first half on a layup by Langs to seize a 40-25 halftime lead. The Lakers had shot 14-26 (53.8 percent) from the field in the first half and had already generated 14 points off Northwood turnovers.
In the third quarter, the Lakers would extend the lead, bullying the Timberwolves for a 23-11 advantage in the quarter and 16 points in the paint. After Nurenburg began the third quarter with her only basket of the game, followed by a Ashley Campbell jumper, the Timberwolves trimmed the lead to 40-29 with 8:09 remaining. Three straight baskets by the Lakers opened the lead up to 17, and it would only climb from there, extending to 27 points, 63-36 at the end of the third quarter.
The fourth quarter would be the lone quarter in which the Timberwolves outpaced the Lakers, holding a 15-10 edge in the final frame. With the game well in hand, the lead would slim down to 21 by the final buzzer, but no further, as the Lakers coasted to the sizeable margin of victory. Northwood was beleaguered by poor shooting all night, finishing just 16-51 (31.4 percent) from the field and 10-30 (33.3 percent) from beyond the arc.
GVSU outrebounded the Timberwolves 36-27, and manhandled them in the paint all night, holding a 38-8 advantage there. Eleven Northwood turnovers turned into 16 Laker points, and while the Timberwolves bench easily outscored their Laker counterparts 35-16, it was the Lakers who would emerge victorious.
The Lakers return to action on Saturday with a home tilt against Lake Superior State at GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. Tip-off for that game is set for 1:00 p.m.
