The Grand Valley State women's basketball team earned a 58-40 victory over Northern Michigan in the GLIAC Tournament Quarterfinals inside the friendly confines of GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. The Lakers will now travel to Ashland, Ohio for the GLIAC Semifinals where they are slated to face Ferris State for the third time this season after the Bulldogs took down Michigan Tech in their quarterfinal matchup. With the victory, the Lakers improve to 24-5 overall and 16-4 in the GLIAC while the Wildcats season ends with a 15-14 record and 11-9 mark in conference play.
 
While the scoring was relatively low for both teams compared to their season averages, the Lakers shot a healthy 40.4% from the field and 39.3% from beyond the arc while the Wildcats hit 35.7% of their field goals. The Lakers defense was insufferable around the arc, as NMU managed to hit just 1-of-12 three-pointers for a measly 8.3% from deep. The GVSU defense also forced Northern Michigan into 15 turnovers, resulting in 10 steals, which they converted to 16 points off of the Wildcat miscues. While the rebounding was even at 31-all, the Lakers managed to hold a 13-0 advantage in second chance points thanks to their nine offensive boards.
 
Individually, the Lakers were led by guards Natalie Koenig and Jenn DeBoer in the scoring department, as they pair scored 18 and 14 points, respectively. Both shot exactly 50% from the field and both drained four three's in the contest as well. Koenig was also 2-for-2 from the charity stripe and collected four rebounds, three assists, and three steals while DeBoer accounted for theee assists, one steal, and one rebound. Center Cassidy Boensch tallied nine points to go along with a team-high seven boards while Korynn Hincka chipped in six points and tied Koenig with a team-best three steals.
 
As one would expect with such defensively adept teams, the first quarter got off to a relatively slow start after it took nearly two and a half minutes to score the first bucket. A Wildcat layup was quickly followed by a Koenig triple who was fouled the Lakers next trip down the court and sank both free throws for a quick 5-2 lead. A layup from Hincka was followed by a Cassidy Boensch and-1 to help the Lakers open up a 10-2 lead with just over five minutes to go. The Wildcats slowly chipped throughout the second half of the quarter and a DeBoer three would be answered in the last :30 seconds with a Wildcat layup to put the game at 13-9 at the end of the first.
 
GVSU used a quick 10-4 run to open up the 23-13 lead over the Wildcats to start the second and with 5:11 to play the Lakers built up an 11-point lead, 25-14. The teams would trade buckets back and forth the rest of the quarter as GVSU's lead never dipped below nine points and a Koenig jumper at 1:46 would put the Lakers up 12, 33-21, for the remainder of the first half.
 
A Boensch layup and Maddie Dailey 3-pointer sandwiched a Wildcat layup and pushed the lead to 38-23 just one minute into the third quarter. Over the next four minutes, each team hit a couple of baskets and GVSU's lead would be largest at the 4:33 mark after a DeBoer layup pushed the game to 40-27. The Wildcats would hit a couple of shots in a row and eventually cut the Lakers lead to just eight points with :34 seconds left but Victoria Hedemark hit a big 3-pointer with just seconds left in the quarter to put the Lakers back up at a more comfortable 11-point lead, 46-35, heading into the fourth quarter.
 
Throughout the fourth quarter, the Lakers lead was never less than 12 after the 8:11 mark, as the Lakers offense kept churning out buckets while their defense started to wear on the Wildcat offense. A DeBoer triple and Hincka free throw gave GVSU their largest lead of the game at 19 points, 58-39, with just 1:53 to play. The Wildcats managed to draw one more foul and hit a free throw before the Lakers were able to run out the clock to secure the 18-point home postseason victory, 58-40.
 
Again, the Lakers will travel to Ashland, Ohio where the Eagles will host both the semifinals and final of the 2017-18 GLIAC Tournament. The Lakers will face off against Ferris State for the third time this season (currently own a 2-0 record over the Bulldogs) in a 4:00 PM tip inside Kates Gymnasium.