at Wayne State (Friday, Feb. 1 – 5:00 PM)
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at No. 3 Ashland (Saturday, Feb. 2 – 2:00 PM)
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The No. 15 Grand Valley State women's basketball team is set for a tough test this weekend when they travel to Wayne State and No. 3 Ashland for a pair of GLIAC contests. They will travel to Detroit, Mich. on Friday, Feb. 1 for a 5:00 PM tipoff with the Warriors before heading down to Ashland, Ohio on Saturday, Feb. 2 for a 2:00 PM afternoon tip with the Eagles.
The usual Thursday-Saturday conference schedule had to be changed due to travel concerns stemming from the recent winter storm in the Midwest.
GVSU most recently defeated crosstown foe Davenport last Saturday (Jan. 26) when they traveled to the Panthers home court and took them down 82-53. Junior guard
Jenn DeBoer was the star of that contest after she tallied a game-high 23 points to go with eight assists, four rebounds, and a steal to pace the Lakers on the offensive end. She remains the teams second highest scorer as she's averaging 15.9 ppg and leads the entire squad with 80 assists and a 36.5% three-point field goal percentage.
Junior center
Cassidy Boensch (18.9 ppg, 11.9 rpg) was the lone other Laker in double digits against the Panthers as she added 10 points herself but it didn't affect the offensive success of the team as eight other Lakers scored.
Victoria Hedemark and
Anja Smith both added nine points while
Maddie Dailey,
Natalie Koenig, and
Taya Andrews all added seven apiece with
Brooke McKinley chipping in seven and
Jenai LaPorte and
Kiri Tiemeyer each adding two.
The Lakers remain one of the most balanced teams in the nation, ranking sixth in Division II in points allowed per game (52.1) which combines with their 74.6 points per game scored to give them an average margin of victory of 22.5 points – the seventh highest in the country. Much of that success stems from two other stats however. The Lakers are committing just 12.1 fouls per game which has prevented the opposition from easy points at the free throw line while their defense is blocking 5.5 shots per game, both of which are top-six nationally.
Wayne State, the Lakers first opponent of the weekend, enter the contest with a 10-9 overall record and a 5-6 mark in conference play. This will be the second meeting between the teams' this season after the Lakers defended their home court in a 73-42 contest back in December.
Ja'Nae Williams remains the Warriors biggest threat on offense, as the guard is averaging 12.0 points and 8.6 rebounds in her nearly 35 minutes per game. She also leads her team in both assists (47) and steals (49) as a to-it-all type performer. Not far behind Williams is fellow guard Nastassja Chambers who is pouring in 11.1 points per contest to go along with her 13 blocks, which is tied for second most on the team.
Sam Cherney, who is averaging just under five points per game, may not be the biggest offensive threat for the Warriors but she is a force down low, grabbing 7.5 rebounds per game to go with her team-leading 18 blocks.
In maybe the most anticipated rematch of the season, the Lakers will have a quick turnaround after the Wayne State game to get prepared for the No. 3 Ashland Eagles. GVSU is currently 1-0 against the Eagles this season when they knocked off then-No. 1 Ashland back in December by an impressive 33-point margin, 94-61. That game saw DeBoer explode for a career-high 32 points after knocking down six three's and going 12-for-19 overall while Boensch added 19 points and 16 rebounds. The Laker defense was also on full display, not allowing a single Eagle to score over 12 points while holding them nearly 40 points below their season average.
That loss is the Eagles lone loss of the season however, as they are currently 18-1 overall and 10-1 in the conference. Their high-powered offense is averaging 92.4 points per game and are efficient in doing so, shooting 51.4% as a team.
Reigning National Player of the Year Jodi Johnson leads that attack with 19.6 points per game on 64.9% shooting to go along with 2.9 steals per game. Forward Sara Loomis is the Eagles main presence in the paint where she is averaging 16.4 points and 9.6 rebounds per game while guard Maddie Dackin isn't far behind with 12.4 ppg. Both sophomore Karlee Pireu and junior Renee Stimpert are averaging double figures as well (11.3 and 10.8, respectively).
Following this weekend, the Lakers will finally be back inside GVSU Fieldhouse Arena when they host Purdue Northwest and Wisconsin-Parkside on Feb. 7 & 9, respectively.
