vs. Ferris State (Thursday, Jan. 3 - 6:00 PM)
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The No. 10 GVSU women's basketball team (11-1, 4-0) will welcome Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) rival Ferris State (6-4, 3-1) to GVSU Fieldhouse Arena on Thursday, Dec. 3 for a 6:00 PM contest. The Lakers officially end their 2018 holiday break and will restart conference action against the Bulldogs after three non-conference victories to end the year. 
 
GVSU has yet to fall inside the friendly confines of Fieldhouse Arena as they have posted a clean 8-0 record on their home court and have won seven of those games by at least 20 points. As a team, the Lakers boast the second highest scoring offense in the conference – and the 17th best in the nation – after scoring 80.1 points per game so far this season. Additionally, they have the 12th best scoring defense nationally which has led to a 27.0 scoring margin, the fifth highest in Division II. 
 
The Laker defense has given opposing offenses fits all season long as they are averaging 6.2 blocks per contest – which is second nationally – while they are holding opponents to just 33.9% from the field and a paltry 27.1% from beyond the arc. 
 
Juniors in center Cassidy Boensch and guard Jenn DeBoer rank second and third in the league in scoring as they are averaging 18.3 and 17.3 points, respectively. Boensch has been getting her work done around the rim, shooting 59.7% from the field, while DeBoer has been on fire from beyond the arc in the recent weeks, going 29-of-72 (40.3%) from deep.
 
Boensch, who has tallied nine double doubles this season – the second most in the country, is also the Lakers leading rebounder with 12.5 boards per game. 
 
Guards Victoria Hedemark and Natalie Koenig are averaging 9.0 and 8.4 points, respectively, while forward Maddie Dailey is also scoring 8.4 per game. 
 
The Bulldogs are coming off of an 80-76 loss to Maryville, who the Lakers beat in their first game of the season 74-50, which snapped a two-game winning streak after they took down Northwood and Saginaw Valley State earlier in December. Much like the Lakers, the Bulldogs have been hard to beat at home, as they are 4-0 on their home court but are just 2-4 while on the road. 
 
Two different Bulldogs are contributing double digits to their overall 74.0 points scored per game, as sophomore guard Adrienne Anderson is scoring 12.1 and junior forward Lilly George is scoring 10.7. Not far behind are three other Bulldogs who are averaging over nine points. That group consists of Alexis Bush, Shaniya Huggins, and Brayene Benner. Benner is also the leading rebounder on the squad with 7.0 boards per game. 
 
Following Thursday night's contest, the Lakers will head up to Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. as they are scheduled to face Lake Superior State on Saturday, Jan. 5 at 1:00 PM.