Saturday vs. Saginaw Valley State- 4:00 PM
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Game Notes

ASHLAND, Ohio—Postseason play is underway for the Grand Valley State women's basketball team, and a matchup with the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals in Saturday's GLIAC Tournament Semifinal awaits the Lakers. The game carries important NCAA Tournament implications in addition to determining who will compete in the GLIAC Tournament title game on Sunday. Tip-off for the game is at 4:00 pm in Kates Gymnasium (Ashland, Ohio), the home gym of top-seeded Ashland University.
 
Fans can follow along with the game via the above links. The game will be broadcast on WTKG AM 1230, with play-by-play man Steve Lloyd-Jones calling all the action.
 
While the Cardinals are ranked third in the Midwest Region and are almost guaranteed an NCAA tournament spot, the Lakers are in the precarious position of eighth in the region and could greatly help their case with a win against the Cardinals. With the region's three conference tournaments yet undecided, an unlikely winner of any of those three could bump the Lakers out of NCAA tournament contention.
 
GVSU (22-6) is riding a season-high six game winning streak into Saturday's matchup with the Cardinals, the third matchup between the two teams this season. Both squads defended their home court against the other this season, and dating back to the four matchups the teams played last season, each is intimately familiar with the other. At that time, it was the Cardinals that swept the regular season matchups with GVSU, only to see the Lakers end their GLIAC Tournament hopes in the semifinals, and send them home from the NCAA Tournament as well with a second loss just one week later.
 
Saginaw Valley State is 22-6 overall and 17-4 in conference play this season and has won two games in a row heading into Saturday's matchup, including a 62-45 win over Northern Michigan in the GLIAC Quarterfinals on Tuesday. The Cardinals feature 2015 GLIAC Player of the Year Emily Wendling, a dominant low-post scoring threat who averages 18.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per contest. Out on the perimeter the Cardinals have relied on guard Katelyn Carriere to give them another scoring threat, and the senior has averaged 15.3 points per game this season, while leading the Cardinals in three-point attempts (123) and makes (44).
 
The Lakers boast a very solid starting lineup of four seniors that are strong two-way players alongside redshirt-sophomore Taylor Parmley, who has filled in well as starter since Kayla Dawson went down with an injury. Senior forward Piper Tucker has done an excellent job all season on both ends of the floor, and is quickly approaching the 1,000 point plateau for career scoring, which would make her the 24^th player in program history to do so if she can reach the mark. Tucker needs just 12 points to reach the 1,000 point mark. Winger Bailey Cairnduff continues to lead the Lakers in outside shooting, hitting three-pointers at a 39 percent clip this season and amassing 56 makes this season. Guards Taylor Lutz and Janae Langs have been excellent distributors this season, with each dishing out 87 assists on the year, and each notching 30 steals on defense. Langs has shown the ability to hit clutch baskets down the stretch both during last season's NCAA Final Four run and at points this season. If the Lakers want to make another tournament run again this year, Langs may be called upon yet again to take those crucial shots down the stretch.
 
While the Lakers don't feature a prolific scorer like some of the GLIAC's top teams, their balanced scoring approach has seen them achieve substantial success this season on their way to 22 wins. The offense sits solidly in the middle of the pack in the GLIAC standings in scoring per game (66 points per contest) and GVSU's field goal percentage (41.5) and three-point percentage (31.9) are ranked sixth and tenth in the conference, respectively. Even still, the Lakers feature a veteran lineup with players that can create their own shot and can manufacture offense in a number of ways, which allows them to be effective on offense while inhibiting opponents on defense.
 
Grand Valley State stands alone at the top of the Division II scoring defense rankings, as they allow a DII-best 52.0 points per contest to opponents. A combination of good fundamentals on defense and a lack of fouling allow the Lakers to wreak havoc on opposing offenses, like they did in defeating the Cardinals earlier this season. While SVSU was able to connect on 43 percent of their shots in the game, they were forced into 16 turnovers on offense, and shot only one free throw in the contest,, removing a large part of their offensive scheme. The Cardinals have made a living at the charity stripe this season, leading the GLIAC in attempts (611) and makes (496), and convert on a conference-best 81.2 percent of tries.
 
In that loss to the Lakers, SVSU finished with 57 points, a low figure but higher than many of GVSU's opponents this season. In all, 21 of the Laker's 28 opponents haven't scored above 55 points this season, with some of them finishing well below 50 points. The Lakers have also held 25 of their opponents below 45 percent shooting, and are 21-4 in those games.
 
If the Lakers are victorious, they will face the winner of the top-seeded Ashland versus fourth-seeded Michigan Tech semifinal in the GLIAC Tournament title game on Sunday at 3:00 PM.