The No. 11 Grand Valley State women's basketball team avenged their lone conference loss of the season on Thursday night (Feb. 21) when they defeated the Northern Michigan Wildcats in a defensive battle, 50-37. GVSU allowed just two points in the first quarter but only managed to score 12 of their own before taking a 21-10 lead into halftime. Both offenses were more efficient in the second half as Northern Michigan would outscore the Lakers 15-13 in the third stanza but a 16-spot in the final quarter would push the Lakers to the 13-point victory. 
 
This win was more special than usual, as GVSU head coach Mike Williams became the fastest coach in program history to record 100 career wins with the Lakers. It took him just 127 total games to reach the milestone as his record at the helm of the Lakers is now 100-27. 
 
GVSU improves to 24-2 overall and 17-1 in conference play while the Wildcats fall to 19-7 overall and 14-4 in league action. The Lakers remain in control of first place in the GLIAC as they hold the slight edge over the Ashland Eagles who are 16-2 against conference competition. 
 
The battle of the top two defenses in the conference lived up to the billing, as it was defense that reigned supreme in this one. The Lakers got off to a slow start but managed to push their field goal percentage up to 40.8% by the final buzzer while their defense held the Wildcats down all night long as they shot just 26.9% from the field. Unsurprisingly, the offensive production the Lakers did get came from down low, where GVSU outscored NMU 24-14, while also winning the rebounding battle, 37-32. 
 
The Lakers also managed to force the Wildcats into 11 turnovers which they converted into 14 points of offense while only coughing the ball up nine times themselves. 
 
Junior center Cassidy Boensch turned in her 18th double double of the season with a 22-point, 12 rebound performance that also included four blocks, two assists, and a steal. She finished 9-for-18 from the field and 4-of-6 from the free throw line. Senior guard Natalie Koenig had a solid all-around game, setting a new career-high with eight rebounds to go with her four points, two steals, and three assists. 
 
Junior forward Maddie Dailey finished second on the team with nine points to go with her four boards, one assist, one block, and one steal performance. 
 
GVSU jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the first two and a half minutes thanks to a Boensch jumper and Victoria Hedemark triple finding the bottom of the net. The points kept slowly rolling in for the Lakers as their defense held the Wildcats scoreless for nearly the whole first quarter. A Koenig free throw would put them up 10, 10-0, before a DeBoer jumper in the paint would fall. With just 0:32 seconds left on the clock, Boensch got called for a foul down low that led to the Wildcats first points of the game. 
 
Dailey would knock down a three at the 9:10 mark of the second quarter and it would be just over four full minutes of play before the Wildcats would answer with a three of their own to cut the lead to 10, 15-5. Layups from Boensch and Hedemark would sandwich another NMU triple before they would trade buckets to end the quarter with GVSU heading into the break with the 21-10 lead. 
 
The tables would turn to start the third however, as NMU's shots started to fall while the Laker offense found themselves faltering. By the 6:41 mark the lead was just three, 23-20, after a 10-3 run to start the quarter was finally ended with a Koenig triple. The Lakers would work the lead back up to 10 however thanks to a three from Taya Andrews and an and-1 layup from Boensch that ignited GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. NMU would silence the crowd with another three but Boensch would close out the scoring with a final jumper to send the Lakers into the final quarter up 34-25. 
 
The Lakers started to pull away early in the fourth thanks to an 11-2 run that put them up 18, 45-27, after a Dailey jumper with 3:13 to go. GVSU's lead would remain 18 over the final few minutes before an NMU and-1 layup and late layup fell after it was too late. 
 
The Lakers will be back in action this Saturday, Feb. 23 when they host Michigan Tech in the first annual Sawyer Day contest. Tipoff is set for 1:00 PM.