The Grand Valley State women's basketball season came to an end Monday night (March 18) in the NCAA DII Midwest Region Championship game where they fell to No. 1-nationally and regionally ranked Drury, 51-44. It was a defensive battle all night long as the two high-powered offenses were held in check as the Lakers committed 25 turnovers and the Panthers shot just 28.8% from the field. The loss puts the Lakers final record at 29-4 overall while Drury improves to 34-0 as they head into the Elite Eight. 

FINAL | DU 51 - GVSU 44

The Lakers fall to Drury in the NCAA DII Midwest Region Final.

It was a great season that saw the Lakers go 29-4 en route to capturing the 2018-19 GLIAC Regular Season Championship. Thank you to all of Laker nation for a great season!! #AnchorUp pic.twitter.com/avDtn2hhpp

— GVSU Women's Bball (@gvsuwbb) March 19, 2019

 
The Lakers 29 wins this season is the second most in program history and is the fourth straight season they have tallied at least 24 marks in the W column, all of which have come under head coach Mike Williams. 
 
Inside of a raucous O'Reilly Family Events Center, the Panthers, who force opposing teams into an average of 30.5 turnovers, forced the Lakers into 25 miscues, resulting in 14 steals, as they scored 21 of their 51 points off of those turnovers. While the Laker offense struggled to protect the ball against the quick Panthers, their defense was top-notch as they allowed DU to shoot just 28.8% from the field and 13.6% from beyond the arc. Both of those are well below the Panthers season average. 
 
 Junior Jenn DeBoer led the Laker attack as she scored 16 points on 5-10 shooting, including 3-4 from deep, while pulling down six rebounds to go with a steal. Junior center Cassidy Boensch pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds to go with nine points and four blocks. Fellow junior Maddie Dailey also tallied nine points while Victoria Hedemark has seven and Jenai LaPorte had three to round out the Laker scoring. 
 
GVSU jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead to start the game after back to back buckets from Dailey and Hedemark. After going up 6-2 with another Dailey layup, the Panthers used a quick 4-0 run to tie things up with 5:12 on the clock. GVSU would hold onto the lead until a layup from DU's Hailey Diestelkamp gave them the 10-9 advantage. A Dailey layup and DeBoer put the Lakers back onto the lead, 13-10, but a pair of free throws with 0:07 seconds left dropped for the Panthers and GVSU's lead would be one, 13-12, after one. 
 
LaPorte then got things going in the second with a good triple try before a DeBoer layup would fall for the six-point lead, 18-12. The teams would trade buckets back and forth over the next few minutes before Drury tied things up with 2:34 left after another Diestelkamp jumper fell. Dailey would close out the scoring in the first half with a three with 0:48 seconds left as that would push them ahead, 25-22. 
 
Out of the break, DU would quickly cut into the lead before tying it 27-all with 8:13 to go. A three from DeBoer would put the Lakers back out front but the Panthers answered with their own three before a layup gave them their first lead of the second half, 32-30. It would be a back and forth battle until the last few minutes of the third. After GVSU took the lead, 36-35, with a layup, the Panthers would close the quarter out on an 8-0 run that turned out to be the defining moment of the game, as they would tie in points scored the rest of the way. 
 
The fourth would see just 16 points scored between the two teams as the run at the end of the third by Drury would be the final push they needed to take the game, 51-44.