vs. No. 3 Ashland (Saturday, Feb. 2 - 2:00 PM)
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No. 15 Grand Valley State earned an impressive 78-50 conference road victory over Wayne State on Friday night (Feb. 1) to improve to 18-2 overall and 11-1 in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) play. The win amplifies an already highly anticipated rematch between the No. 3 nationally-ranked Ashland Eagles and the Lakers, as the two teams will battle for sole possession of first place in the conference. 
 
Use the links at the top of the page to follow along with that rematch tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 PM ET. 
 
Continuing their trend of dominating in the paint, the Lakers outscored the Warriors 38-20 down low while dominating the rebounding battle 40-29. Much of that success around the basket comes from junior center Cassidy Boensch, who recorded her 15th double double of the season with game-highs of 21 points and 16 rebounds to go along with her four blocks. 
 
Even with their success down low, the Lakers can't be too disappointed in their performance from deep as they knocked down 6-of-15 (40%) from three to shoot an even 50.0% from the field. On the other side of the court, the Laker defense was once again on full display as they held the Warriors to just 16-of-56 (28.6%) from the field and an even less effective 6-of-25 (24.0%) from beyond the arc. 
 
Boensch wasn't the only Laker to have a strong individual performance as the Lakers actually had six players – a season high – in double digits. Taya Andrews added a career-high 13 points off the bench while Jenn DeBoer chipped in 12 and Natalie Koenig, Victoria Hedemark, and Maddie Dailey all added 10 apiece. 
 
As a team, the Lakers were also an impressive 16-of-18 (88.9%) from the charity stripe as they took advantage of the freebies given out by the Warriors. 
 
Wayne State wasted no time getting the scoring started as they converted a blocked shot into a good three on their first possession just thirty seconds into play. It would take just over two minutes for the Lakers to also get on the board as an Andrews layup found the bottom of the net to bring the slow-starting game to 3-2 in favor of WSU. Despite that slow start, both teams' offenses would come to life as the Warriors would hold the 11-10 lead with 4:26 left after a flurry of points by both squads. A triple from Dailey would give GVSU their first lead of the game, 13-11, which they would hold to a 18-15 score at the end of the first thanks to another triple from Hedemark.
 
GVSU hit their groove at the start of the second as they would rattle off a 16-2 run to take a 17-point lead, 34-17, with just under five minutes to go to halftime. A couple of free throws and a three from the Warriors were sandwiched by a pair of Laker layups before two good freebies from Boensch would give GVSU the 40-22 lead. WSU would score the final points of the second to cut the lead to 16, 40-24, heading into the break. 
 
The teams would trade made free throws to start the second half to make it 42-26 but the Lakers would quickly push their offense back into gear as they would open up a 25-point lead, 51-26, after a Koenig triple and a free throw from DeBoer. GVSU would break the 30+ point lead mark for the first time at the 2:47 mark in the third after an and-1 layup from Boensch would push the lead to 32, 62-30. The Warriors would be on the attack to end the third quarter however, as they would cut that lead by 10 over the final few minutes as a Sadia Johnson would wrap up the scoring to bring the score to 62-40. 
 
Despite the late comeback attempt from the Warriors, the Laker lead would only go as low as 18 points as they would be able to coast to their 18th win of the season. GVSU would close out the game on a 12-2 run with the Warriors lone points over the final four minutes would come via free throws with :16 seconds to go.