The No. 12 Grand Valley State women's basketball team earned a 30-point victory over the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals, 85-54, on Valentine's Day behind Cassidy Boensch's 38-point, 23 rebound performance to improve to 22-2 overall and 15-1 in GLIAC play. The Cardinals fall to 4-19 overall and 4-12 in league action. 
 
While Boench's performance didn't quite break the program record for points scored (44) or rebounds pulled down (24) by a single play, it was the single best dual-threat performance in the long history of GVSU women's basketball. And she did it all in just 26 minutes. 
 
The junior didn't play the final five minutes of the game and broke her previous career-high scoring effort by six points and her rebounding record by two boards. In all, Boensch was 16-of-23 from the field (69.5%) and 6-of-7 from the free throw line (85.7%) while also adding four blocks and two assists.
 
It was of course a team effort that pushed the Lakers along to their 30-point victory as their defense was nearly impenetrable all night long. The Cardinals shot just 21-of-69 from the field (30.4%) and 8-of-33 from beyond the arc (24.2%) and trailed the rebounding battle 57-36. The Lakers also dominated the Cardinals in the paint, outscoring them 56-22 down low while also holding the 19-3 advantage in second chance points thanks to their 16 offensive boards. 
 
Junior guard Jenn DeBoer turned in an 11-point, 5-rebound performance as well while Maddie Dailey, Victoria Hedemark, and Taya Andrews all chipped in seven points apiece. Dailey also had a career-high seven assists. 
 
The Lakers spread the scoring around early in the first quarter, getting buckets from Boensch, Natalie Koenig, and Hedemark in the first two and a half minutes to take the early 7-1 lead. GVSU's defense wouldn't give up a single field goal until the 6:16 mark when a Hannah Settingsgaard three found the bottom of the net to bring the score to 11-4. After a nearly two-minute drought in scoring, the Cardinals cut the lead to five, 11-6, with a layup but a Boensch layup and DeBoer triple would push the lead back to double digits. After a 16-7 score, the Lakers used an 8-0 run to close out the first and take the 17-point lead into the break, 24-7. 
 
Boensch got hot in the second and would wind up scoring 16 of the Lakers 18 second quarter points. A couple of free throws sandwiched a layup from her to start the quarter before another pair of free throws and yet another lay-in would account for all eight of the Lakers points up to that point. Andrews was the lone other Laker to score a bucket in the quarter as the Lakers would go up big, 42-20, heading into halftime. 
 
Dailey and Hedemark would open up the scoring in the third before a Boensch layup would end a 6-0 run to start things off. GVSU's lead would be cut back down to 20 at the 5:55 mark but over the next two minutes would quickly balloon back out to 28, 60-32. A nearly two minute scoring drought would be ended by an SVSU triple which was quickly followed up with a Kyndall Spires layup to bring the score to 60-37. When the clocks hit zero in the third, GVSU's lead was 28, 65-37. 
 
Unsurprisingly, Boensch would get thing started in the fourth before DeBoer would lay on in herself before following up with a three. With a 37-point lead about midway through the fourth, the Lakers were able to rest their starters and get some of their key bench players some time on the court. A free throw by Samantha Gehrls with 1:15 to go would close out the scoring for GVSU as they would coast on to the 30-point victory. 
 
The Lakers will be back in action this Saturday, Feb. 16 when they travel to Northwood for a 4:00 PM contest.