The Grand Valley State women's basketball team earned the 73-29 dominant victory over the Tiffin Dragons on Senior Day inside GVSU Fieldhouse Arena on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 17). Despite scoring 73 points, both teams got off to a slow start after scoring a combined 12 points in the first quarter, 10 of which came from GVSU however. The Lakers offense picked up in the second and they took the 31-10 lead into the half before eventually earning the 44-point victory. The win moves the Lakers to 21-5 overall and 14-4 in the GLIAC while Tiffin falls to 9-17 and 5-13.
 
GVSU's defense forced the Dragons into 23 turnovers throughout the game, which the Laker offense converted into 10 points. In comparison, GVSU tallied just five turnovers and didn't allow the Dragons to convert that into any points. Grand Valley also held the Dragons to just 21.8% from the field and an even lower 13.8% from beyond the arc. GVSU also dominated in the paint, scoring 28 down low compared to the Dragons 12, while also holding the 44-39 margin in rebounds.
 
Sophomore Cassidy Boensch got her second start of the season and didn't disappoint, as she scored a game-high 21 points and tallied 11 rebounds for a double-double. Fellow sophomore Jenn DeBoer added 12 points of her own, while Emma Wright tallied eight. Sophomore Maddie Dailey and freshman Anja Smith both added seven apiece as well.
 
Both teams struggled to get on the board early on, as the first points weren't scored until a couple of Boensch free throws with nearly three minutes gone. Another three minutes would pass until the Dragons finally managed to get one to fall after a jumper found the bottom of the net with 4:49 on the clock. Boensch then took over in the paint and scored three consecutive layups over a minute and a half to push the Laker lead to 8-2 with 2:49 to go. The final bucket of the quarter would come courtesy of a Megan Belke jumper with 1:19 on the clock. The Lakers would take the 10-2 lead after a relatively uneventful first quarter.
 
With 8:31 to go in the second, the Laker offense finally came alive and used a six-point run over the next minute to take the dominant 18-4 lead at the 7:14 mark. GVSU's defense stayed dominant in the second, as they didn't allow the Dragons to reach double-digits as a team until 3:58 was left on the clock. The Lakers would hit six consecutive free throws over the final three minutes of the half to go into the break with a 31-10 lead over Tiffin.
 
Boensch continued to dominate down low, as the sophomore put in back to back layups to begin the third to put the Lakers up 25 with 9:02 still on the clock. A Maddie Dailey jumper answered a Dragon three-pointer and was followed by a Korynn Hincka layup to push the lead to 39-13. Two consecutive trips down the floor resulted in trips to the free throw line for the Lakers as Jenn DeBoer and Boensch nailed all of them for the 30-point lead. Natalie Koenig caught fire from deep it the middle of the third after hitting two triples on consecutive trips. A Victoria Hedemark free throw gave GVSU the 50-15 lead with 3:35 left but the Dragons would close out the third on a 8-0 run to cut the lead to 50-23.
 
DeBoer put in two buckets to start the fourth to put the Lakers up 31 with just over nine minutes to go. GVSU wouldn't slow down either, as they outscored the Dragons 23-6 over the next nine minutes to close out the game.
 
The Lakers will be back in action next weekend (Feb. 22-24) as they are scheduled to travel to Lake Superior State on Thursday (Feb. 22) and Ferris State on Saturday. Thursday's game is set to tipoff at 5:30 PM before a 3:00 PM tip in Big Rapids.