The No. 8 Grand Valley State women's basketball team was named the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Regular Season Champions after their 73-48 victory over the Davenport Panthers on Thursday night (Feb. 28) – their first outright title since the 2005-06 season. GVSU finishes the regular season 26-2 overall and 19-1 in GLIAC play, including a perfect 16-0 record on their home court. The Lakers will have a chance to extend that win streak inside GVSU Fieldhouse Arena next Tuesday (March 5), when they host Wayne State in the GLIAC Tournament Quarterfinals at 7:00 PM. 
 
The celebrations continued after the final buzzer as seniors Natalie Koenig and Tara Lierman were honored for their time in Laker uniforms at halftime of the men's contest. While it won't be their last time on the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena Court, each was individually celebrated for their stellar careers. The applause even continued after that as junior Taya Andrews scored her 1,000th career point with her first bucket in the game while head coach Mike Williams was recognized for surpassing the 100-win mark at the helm of the Lakers. He's the fastest coach in program history to do so. 
 
Despite the 25-point difference when the buzzer sounded the final time, it was a close game until a big 22-8 third quarter from the Lakers gave them the final push they needed to close it out. After falling behind 8-1 early, the Lakers closed out the first quarter on an 18-5 run before taking a 39-29 lead into the break. That big third quarter put the Lakers comfortably in front the rest of the way as they cruised through a low-scoring fourth quarter to their regular season title. 
 
Junior center Cassidy Boensch turned in her 20th double double of the season with a 26-point, 11-rebound performance while junior forward Maddie Dailey tallied her first career double double with 11 points and 10 boards herself. Junior guard Jenn DeBoer started the night slow but caught on down the stretch as she finished with 14 points and six boards. 
 
While it was a tough shooting night for both squads, the Lakers managed to knock down 42.2% (27-64) of their field goals while holding DU to just 27.9% (17-61). It is the second game in a row the Lakers have held their opponents to lower than 30.0% from the field. The Panthers did manage to outrebound GVSU 46-41 but the Lakers held the big 44-16 advantage in points in the paint. Where the Lakers excelled was in the turnover margin, as they coughed the ball up just six times all game compared to Davenport's 18 miscues, which the Lakers turned into 24 points of offense. 
 
Again, the Lakers got off to a tough start, missing their first eight shots as they found themselves down seven, 8-1. A jumper from Boensch with 4:57 on the clock broke the dry spell and sparked that big run by the Lakers to quickly regain the lead. GVSU's defense held the DU offense scoreless for nearly the final two minutes before a made free throw with 0:17 seconds left brought the score to 19-13 in favor of GVSU. 
 
Despite their big run to end the first, the Lakers couldn't put the Panthers away as the teams traded buckets to start the second with GVSU's lead fluttering between eight and 11 points for the first five minutes of the quarter. A steal and layup from DeBoer with 4:06 left pushed the lead to 13 but a final small push from the Panthers before halftime cut that to 10, 39-29. 
 
GVSU stepped up its game on both ends of the court in the third quarter as a nine point lead with 7:58 on the clock would quickly explode to a 20-point lead with 3:31 left, 55-35. That lead would be maintained until Koenig would nail a triple with 0:24 seconds to go to send GVSU into the final quarter up 61-37. 
 
A combined 23 points would be scored in the fourth as the Lakers would be able to slowly wind the clock to their first regular season title in just over a decade. 
 
Again, the Lakers will be back in action next Tuesday, March 5 when they host the Wayne State Warriors in the GLIAC Tournament Quarterfinals inside GVSU Fieldhouse Arena.