ASHLAND, Ohio—For the second season in a row, the Grand Valley State women's basketball team defeated Saginaw Valley State in the GLIAC Tournament semifinals, and will once again advance to face top-seeded (and top-ranked) Ashland in the title game following Saturdays 71-58 victory.
 
Janae Langs finished with a  double-double effort of 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Lakers, who also received double-digit efforts from Bailey Cairnduff (14 points) and Taylor Parmley (12 points/10 rebounds). Taylor Lutz finished just two points shy of a double-double in finishing with a career best 10 rebounds.
 
Unsurprisingly, the first half of play between the two teams was tight, as neither built a significant advantage in the first two quarters of play. Poor shooting by the Lakers saw them miss their first four shots and fall behind 5-0, only to score six straight points to jump in front as the Cardinals missed five straight shots of their own. With eight seconds remaining in the first quarter, the Cardinals tied the game at 12-12 with a pair of free throws, which the Lakers answered with a Langs jumper to go up 14-12 at the end of the first quarter.
 
In the second quarter, the Cardinals mounted a small run to erase a three point GVSU lead and turn it into a 21-17 SVSU lead. Saginaw Valley State did so on three straight triples by Francesca Coury, a freshman guard that had just 20 made triples on the season heading into Saturday's contest. Two layups from Langs and one from Parmley in quick succession put GVSU back on top, 23-21, which SVSU answered with a free throw and a layup. A layup by Cairnduff with 1:29 left put the Lakers up 25-24 and would be the final points scored in the quarter, as GVSU held the narrow one point lead at the halftime break.
 
After an old-fashioned three point play from SVSU's Halee Nieman put the Cardinals up two to open the third quarter, the Lakers scored seven straight points to go up 32-27, only to see the Cardinals battle back to wittle the lead down to one with 6:11 remaining in the quarter. A Laker run culminating in a triple by Jenn DeBoer put GVSU up eight, 42-34, and after a pair of Cardinal free throws, senior Lindsay Baker hit back-to-back trifectas to extend the lead to 48-36 with 3:36 remaining in the quarter. Two DeBoer free throws pushed the lead to 14 briefly, but SVSU would close out the quarter on a 7-2 run to trim Grand Valley State's lead to 52-43 heading into the final quarter.
 
The Cardinals could not find a comeback in the fourth quarter, as the Lakers continued to extend the lead into double-digits each time SVSU cut it to less than 10. A jump shot with 4:54 cut the lead to nine, the closest the game would get for the remainder of the final quarter. GVSU went 9-10 from the free throw line down the stretch to stave off any late game heroics from the Cardinals.
 
A dominant edge in rebounding (46-33) and points in the paint (30-14) propelled GVSU to the victory, as the Lakers shot 24 of 60 (40 percent) from the field and finished 18-23 (78.3 percent) from the free-throw line. The Lakers did a good job containing the Cardinals on offense, holding them to just 16-53 (30.2 percent) from the field and 6-20 (30 percent) from beyond the arc. Both teams had 18 turnovers apiece, which GVSU turned into 17 points and Saginaw Valley State, 15.
 
SVSU's top scorers Emily Wendling and Katelyn Carriere combined to shoot 8-21 from the field and 1-7 from three-point range, finishing with 30 points between them. Coury finished with 12 points on four trifectas, while no other Cardinal finished in double-figures.
 
The Lakers now advance to face Ashland in the GLIAC Tournament title game on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. in a rematch of last season's conference tournament final. The Eagles are undefeated at 30-0, and dispatched Michigan Tech 81-59 in the other GLIAC semifinal on Sunday.