ST LOUIS, Mo. – The #3 Grand Valley State women's basketball team cruised to a season opening win over University of Missouri-St. Louis on Friday afternoon, 78-44. The Lakers balanced offensive attack saw 12 different players enter the scoring column while shooting 50.8% (30-59) from the field and 81.3% (13-16) from the charity stripe. With the win, GVSU improves to 5-0 in season openers under head coach Mike Williams.
 
Senior Cassidy Boensch led the Lakers with 17 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, and three blocks with senior Jenn DeBoer and freshman Haley Swing adding 12 and 10 points respectively. The Lakers bench was efficient in scoring 36 points compared to UMSL's 24 bench points and helped increase the lead in the second half. As a team, GVSU out rebounded the Tritons 37-30 and outscored them in the paint, 44-20.
 
The Lakers trailed 2-0 in the first minute of the game, but never trailed the rest of the game after a Maddie Dailey three-pointer broke a 2-2 tie and gave GVSU a 5-2 lead. After building a 14-8 lead, GVSU would go on a 9-0 run, capped off by back-to-back layups by sophomore Emily Spitzley. The Lakers led 23-10 after the first quarter.
 
GVSU's defense only allowed three points during the first five minutes of the second quarter and grew their lead to 33-13. Senior Jenai LaPorte knocked down two three-pointers in the frame to ignite another run that built the Lakers lead to 40-15. GVSU entered the half up by 23 points.
 
Coming out of the half, GVSU continued to put their foot on the gas and led by as much as 34 points in the third quarter and increased the lead to 40 with 5:47 to go in the fourth quarter.
 
The Lakers will be back in action tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 PM against Maryville University.