The Grand Valley State women's basketball team fell to #17 Michigan Tech, 68-61, on the road Thursday (Feb. 1) night. The Lakers held a lead heading into the fourth quarter but the Huskies managed to outscore GVSU 22-9 in the final frame to earn the seven point victory. With the loss, the Lakers fall to 17-4 overall and 10-3 in conference play while the Huskies improve to 17-3 and 11-2 in GLIAC action.
 
The Lakers shot a reasonable 23-58 (39.7%) from the field but hit just 4-of-14 3-pointers while the Huskies shot 43.9% (25-57) from the floor and 10-28 (35.7%) from beyond the arc. Both teams committed 13 turnovers but the Lakers managed to turn that into 22 points while Michigan Tech managed just nine. Both teams also tied with 36 rebounds apiece but the Lakers dominated offensively down low, tallying 34 points in the paint compared to the Huskies 24. The Lakers also held the lead in free throws, making 11-of-16 while Michigan Tech hit 8-of-11.
 
Senior Taylor Parmley led the Lakers on offense, as she poured in a game-high 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting, all of which came within the 3-point line. Parmley also hit 6-of-10 free throws while pulling down five rebounds. Jenn DeBoer was the only other Laker to post double digit points, as the guard tallied 14 while also picking up four rebounds. Fellow sophomore Cassidy Boensch tied the game-high with 10 rebounds while also contributing eight points and Korynn Hincka pulled down seven boards herself to go along with six points.
 
The Huskies got out to a quick 5-0 lead after hitting their first shot of the game and then following it up with a 3-pointer at the 9:04 mark. After a couple of free throws from Parmley, the Huskies started to heat up and used an 8-point run on two three's and a jumper to take a large 13-2 lead over the Lakers just four minutes into play. GVSU slowly cut into the lead and a 3-pointer from Koenig cut the lead to six, 16-10, before another Parmley layup found the bottom of the net to bring the Lakers within four with 3:00 minutes to go. DeBoer hit a big three at the 2:04 mark but was answered by another Huskie triple and Michigan Tech scored the last bucket of the quarter at the 1:17 mark to take a six point lead into the second quarter.
 
Things didn't turn around for the Lakers at the beginning of the second as Michigan Tech drilled a 3-pointer just eight seconds into play and followed it up with a jumper just a few seconds later to push their lead to 11, 26-15. Parmley hit another pair of free throws before putting in back to back layups to slash the Huskie lead to 7, 28-21. After Michigan Tech took a 30-21 lead on a layup, the Lakers responded with nine straight points, capped off by a Dailey triple, to tie the game 30-30 with 3:31 left on the clock. The Huskies managed to drop in another 3-pointer but layups from DeBoer with 1:12 left and Parmley with just 0:03 left gave the Lakers the one point lead heading into the half, 34-33.
 
Michigan Tech regained the lead after hitting a jumper and quickly followed up with another one to take the 37-34 lead with 8:45 left in the third. The teams traded buckets over the next minute and a half and the Huskies maintained their one point lead, 39-38, at the 7:35 mark when both teams would go on a minute and a half long scoring drought. A Boensch layup answered a couple of Huskie free throws to bring the Lakers within one before a couple of Hincka freebies gave GVSU the lead. Boensch proceeded to hit back to back layups to give the Lakers the 46-41 lead before both Parmley and DeBoer would hit a couple more to push the lead to nine points, 50-41, with 2:28 left. After pushing the lead to 11, the Huskies answered GVSU with a jumper and 3-pointer to end the quarter and cut the lead to six, 52-46, heading into the fourth.
 
The Huskies got the scoring started in the fourth quarter with a couple of quick layups to cut the Laker lead to just two, 52-50, with less than a minute gone. A three-pointer and another jumper from Michigan Tech gave them the lead back at the 7:46 mark, 52-55. The teams traded layups and the Huskies took a three point lead at 6:37 before the teams would go scoreless for nearly two minutes. Michigan Tech ended the drought with a 3-pointer but Parmley quickly answered with an old fashioned 3-point play to cut the lead to three, 60-57. The Huskies would go on to take a six-point lead at the 1:25 mark, 64-58, and the Lakers would only come within three points at the 0:29 mark before they had to start fouling and Michigan Tech would hit their free throws down the stretch to take down GVSU, 68-61.
 
The Lakers will be back in action this Saturday (Feb. 3) as they are set to travel over to Northern Michigan for a 3:00 PM contest.