The No. 15 Grand Valley State women's basketball team captured a 73-42 victory over GLIAC foe Wayne State on Saturday night (Dec. 8) inside of the friendly confines of GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. The win pushes the Lakers to 8-1 overall and 4-0 in conference play as they sit alone at the top of the GLIAC South Division standings after defeating No. 1 Ashland on Thursday (Dec. 6). Wayne State falls to 4-5 on the year and 2-2 in conference play. 
 
Junior center Cassidy Boensch completed a rare feat in the Lakers victory, as she became just the seventh division 2 player this season to record a triple-double after posting 11 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 blocks. This is the third consecutive game the Au Gres, Mich. native has pulled down 16 boards and the 10 rejections mark a new career high. Her 34 minutes played also led the entire Laker squad. 
 
Fellow junior in guard Jenn DeBoer followed up her career-high 32 points in the Lakers upset over Ashland with a 15-point, four assist, two steal performance. Junior forward Maddie Dailey also added 15 points while senior guard Natalie Koenig contributed 14 of her own. DeBoer, Koenig, Boensch, and freshman Emily Spitzley all tallied two steals that helped GVSU gather a total of 11 swipes. 
 
As a team, the Lakers shot 46.7% (28-60) and connected on just over 40% of their three's (9-22) while holding the Warriors to just 27.6% from the field and 25.0% from beyond the arc. Thirty-two of GVSU's points came in the paint while their 16 points off of turnovers was also slightly higher than the Warriors' 14. 
 
Much like they did on Thursday against the Eagles, GVSU jumped out to a big lead to start the game. A layup from Dailey got the scoring started before DeBoer followed it up with a jumper and a three that pushed the lead out to seven, 7-0, with 7:46 still on the clock. Koenig then nailed another three and Boensch hit a free throw to give the Lakers the 11-0 margin early. The Warriors got on the board with a Ja'Nae Williams jumper but the Laker lead remained at 11 with 1:58 to go before Koenig hit the Lakers third three of the quarter to push it to 14, 20-6, heading into the second. 
 
With just :16 seconds off of the clock in the second, DeBoer drained a triple try to give the Lakers their largest lead at 17, 23-6. The Warriors wouldn't be denied any longer however, as they used a quick 7-0 run to bring it back within 10, 23-13, with 7:44 left. After a triple from the Warriors a while later, the lead was just nine, 25-16, but a huge 10-point swing from the Lakers gave them the comfortable 19-point cushion, 35-16, heading into the break.
 
The Warriors would use another small run in the beginnings of the second half to cut the lead down to 12, 36-24, with 7:43 left but they would quickly be swamped by the GVSU offensive attack who used a 13-3 run to go up by 22, 49-27. By the end of the third, GVSU's lead was 16, 51-35. 
 
The fourth quarter would be all GVSU, as they would outscore the Warriors 22-7 to pull out the 31-point victory, their second 30+ point win in a row. After a 53-36 lead, Koenig and DeBoer knocked down back to back three's for a quick six-point swing. A Boensch layup and Taya Andrews triple would put the Lakers up 28 with 5:45 to go, 64-36. The Laker defense would allow just six more points in the final half of the fourth quarter as a Jenai LaPorte layup with :57 seconds to go would close out the scoring. 
 
GVSU will take a break from conference action as the holiday season continues but will play three games over Christmas break. They will host Central State on Monday, Dec. 17 (1PM), Bellarmine on Wednesday, Dec. 19 (1PM), and Lourdes on Saturday, Dec. 29 (3PM).