The Grand Valley State women's basketball team earned a 76-57 victory over the Ferris State Bulldogs on Saturday night (Jan. 20) in front of 1,230 inside GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. After a slow start to the game saw the Lakers leading by just one, 10-9, at the end of the first quarter, the Lakers came out hot to start the second and outscored the Bulldogs 23-10 to take a comfortable 33-19 lead into halftime. The third quarter saw the teams go almost bucket for bucket as GVSU narrowly outscored FSU, 25-23, to take a 58-42 lead into the final quarter where the Lakers took care of business to secure the 19-point victory.
 
With the win, the Lakers move to 16-3 on the season and 9-2 in conference play while the Bulldogs fall to 10-9 overall and 4-7 in the GLIAC. GVSU head coach Mike Williams is now 5-0 against the rival Bulldogs and the Lakers have not lost a game to FSU since the end of the 2013-14 season.
 
The Lakers boasted an efficient offense in the contest, as they shot 41.0% (25-61) from the floor, including 42.9% (12-28) from beyond the arc and 82.4% (14-17) from the free throw line. GVSU was also strong down low as they outrebounded the Bulldogs, 43-33, while also holding the advantage in points in the paint, 22-20. GVSU's defense, which has been impenetrable the last four games, held the Bulldogs to 36.7% from the floor and 37.5% from beyond the arc, while also forcing 20 turnovers and nabbing 12 steals.
 
Guards Jenn DeBoer and Natalie Koenig were lights out from beyond the arc in the game, as they combined to go 9-18 from deep while both poured in 19-points. With DeBoer's performance, she tied her season and career high in points while Koenig has averaged 20.5 points in the team's last two victories. Senior center Korynn Hincka was all over the floor in the contest as well as she stuffed her stat sheet with seven points, eight rebounds, three assists, three steals, and one block while fellow center Cassidy Boensch tallied six points, seven rebounds, and three blocks. Sophomore forward Maddie Dailey also had a good game after pouring in 11 points on 4-11 from the field (2-6 from deep) and pulling down a couple of rebounds.
 
Scoring was at a premium for both squads in the first quarter as they would combine to only score 19-points in the first 10:00 minutes. The Bulldogs got the scoring started with an old fashioned 3-point play at the 8:13 mark but a Koenig triple quickly tied the game just a few seconds later. A layup from FSU gave them a two point lead that was quickly erased after Hincka drew a foul and hit both freebies at the 5:49 mark. Just over a minute later, another layup dropped for FSU and it would be almost two and a half minutes before they would add to their lead with a jumper with 2:06 left. Another Koenig triple found the bottom of the net to cut the lead to just one before a Taylor Parmley layup with :30 seconds left gave GVSU a 10-9 lead, which would turn out to be the final lead change of the game.
 
Despite the lack of offense in the first, the Lakers came out shooting in the second and quickly built up a 10-point lead, 23-13, with just over four minutes gone in the quarter. A Hincka layup was quickly answered by FSU but back to back three's from Koenig and DeBoer pushed GVSU's lead out to 16 with 3:31 to play. A Koenig layup at the 2:57 mark would be the only points scored for nearly two minutes before FSU hit a layup with :37 seconds remaining to cut GVSU's lead to 14, 33-19, heading into the half.
 
Dailey got the scoring started in the third quarter with a 3-pointer just :17 seconds into play but the Bulldogs managed to hit a jumper and back to back triples to slice into the Laker lead and make it an 11-point game with 7:37 left to go. The teams traded baskets back and forth before FSU hit a couple of shots and brought the Laker lead down to nine, the first single digit lead for the Lakers since the 8:03 mark of the second. Once again, both squads were hitting their shots toward the end of the third but the Lakers would outscore the Bulldogs 10-2 over the final two and a half minutes, eight of which were scored by DeBoer, to give them a 58-42 lead heading into the final quarter.
 
The Lakers quickly added to their lead after a DeBoer layup found the bottom of the net to start the fourth quarter and a couple of free throws from Parmley a few minutes later pushed the lead to 19 at the 7:32 mark. A layup from Koenig at the 5:21 mark gave GVSU their biggest lead of the game at 21-points, 65-44. The Lakers lead would never fall below 17 points in the final five minutes of the second half and a layup from Emma Wright with forty-three seconds left would round out the scoring for the Lakers and secure their 76-57 victory.
 
GVSU will have a week off to rest and recover, as they aren't scheduled to play a weekday game next week. Their next contest will be next Saturday (Jan. 27) when they host Purdue Northwest in a 3:00 PM matchup.