The #24 Grand Valley State women's basketball team used a dominant defensive effort to earn a 78-36 victory over GLIAC foe Purdue Northwest on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 27) in front of 697 fans inside GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. After taking a comfortable 22-7 lead after the first quarter, the Lakers and Pride battled in the second quarter as GVSU held a small 16-15 margin in points in the quarter to take the 38-22 lead heading into the half. The third quarter looked a lot like the first, with the Laker defense playing on another level and allowing PNW to score just four total points in the period before eventually running away with the 32-point victory in the fourth. With the victory, the Laker improve to 17-3 overall and 10-2 in GLIAC play while the Pride falls to 3-14 and 2-10.
 
The Lakers set a new season-high with 19 steals while forcing the Pride into a total of 26 turnovers that GVSU converted into 31 points. GVSU also dominated down low, outscoring PNW 26-10 in points in the paint while outrebounding them by a 36-30 margin.
 
For the game, the Lakers shot a cool 48.3% from the field, including 41.4% from beyond the arc, and hit 10-of-12 free throws in the contest. The Laker defense on the other hand forced the Pride to shoot just 26.0% from the floor – the lowest mark against the Lakers this season – and 11.1% from three, while allowing no player on the Pride to score more than nine points. This season, the Lakers are allowing opponent's to score just 55.8 points per game, which is the lowest mark in the GLIAC conference.
 
Junior Natalie Koenig had another impressive performance after pouring in 19 points on 6-of-11 from the field and 5-of-7 from three. Koenig has tallied point totals of 22, 19, and 19 in her last three games and is now averaging 11.2 points per game this season. Sophomore Jenn DeBoer also added 12 points to go along with her game-high six assists while senior Taylor Parmley tallied 11 points and a block. Sophomores Maddie Dailey and Cassidy Boensch were also active during the game, as Dailey pulled down a team-high six rebounds to go along with her five points and two steals while Boensch picked up nine points, four rebounds, and two steals as well.
 
Things got off to a relatively slow start in the first quarter, as a Koenig 3-pointer got the Lakers on the board and gave them a 3-2 lead with nearly three minutes already off the clock before Parmley – who usually gets most of her work done in the paint – hit back to back 3-pointers for the Lakers to give them the 9-7 advantage with 5:41 to play. Before Parmley's second three, the Pride managed to get one of their own to fall at the 5:55 mark but incredibly that would be their final points of the quarter as GVSU went on a massive 16-point run to take their 22-7 lead into the second.
 
A three-pointer from Victoria Hedemark was quickly followed by a layup from Boensch to extend the Laker lead to 20, 27-7, to start the second quarter. Just when it looked like the Lakers would run away with the game in the second quarter already, the Pride focused up and used a 7-point run to cut the lead to a more manageable 13-points after a layup at the 4:47 mark. The Lakers wouldn't be silenced however, and ended up regaining a 16-point lead by the end of the quarter, 38-22.
 
In the third quarter, the Laker defense was in a league of their own, as they only allowed four total points the entire quarter – two of which were free-throws – and didn't allow the Pride to record a bucket from the field until there was just 1:26 on the clock. GVSU kept their offense rolling however and scored 16-points in the quarter to extend their lead to 28, 54-26, heading into the fourth. Koenig scored five of her 19 in the quarter while DeBoer (4), Parmley (4), Boensch (2), and Anja Smith (2) all got in on the action as well.
 
GVSU didn't slow down in the fourth quarter and by the 5:42 mark had built up a 37-point lead on the Pride which would eventually swell to 42-points to end the game. The Lakers shot in impressive 60.0% (9-15) from the field in the quarter and held the Pride to just 10 points and 25.0% shooting.
 
The Lakers will head up the Upper Peninsula next weekend (Feb. 1-3) for a couple of contests against Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan. The matchup with Michigan Tech will be on Thursday, Feb. 1 at 5:30 PM before a 3:00 PM start at Northern Michigan on Saturday (Feb. 3). Following their trip up north, the Lakers will return to West Michigan for their matchup with Wayne State at the DeltaPlex Arena on Feb. 8 and a true home game against Davenport on the 10th.