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vs. Wayne State (Tuesday, March 5 – 7:00 PM)
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The No. 8 Grand Valley State women's basketball team will host the Wayne State Warriors in the first round of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament. The Lakers are the No. 1 seed this year after finishing the regular season 26-2 overall and 19-1 in conference play while the Warriors hold the No. 8 seed after finishing 13-15 overall and 8-12 in the league. 
 
As for the rest of the tournament field, No. 2 Ashland will host No. 7 Parkside, No. 3 Michigan Tech will host No. 6 Northwood, and No. 4 Northern Michigan will host No. 5 Ferris State. With a Laker victory on Tuesday night, the remaining four teams would travel to Allendale as GVSU would host the semifinal and final rounds as the highest remaining seed. 
 
Last Wednesday (Feb. 27) the Lakers remained the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Midwest Region Poll. The third of the four total polls will be announced this Wednesday, March 6 while the final poll on Sunday, March 10 at 10:00 PM will be unveiled on the NCAA Postseason Selection Show. The top-eight teams from each of the eight regions will advance to the national postseason tournament.
 
After suffering their only conference loss of the season to Northern Michigan back on Jan. 19, the Lakers finished their season with a 10-game winning streak and are currently undefeated on their home court with a clean 16-0 record – which is the longest home winning streak since the 2004-05 season saw them go 18-0 in Allendale. Wayne State will enter the contest having dropped their final three games of the regular season, including four of their last five. They are 5-6 in true road games this season. 
 
The Lakers have found success on both ends of the floor this season, scoring 75.2 points per game on offense while holding opponents to just 52.0 points. That 23.2 scoring margin is fifth highest in the country while their defense is ranked fourth. 
 
Junior center Cassidy Boensch has continued her dominance throughout the season as she is still first on the team in scoring (20.3 ppg) and rebounding (12.2 rbg) and is ranked third nationally with 20 double doubles and eighth with 92 blocked shots. Also averaging double figures for the Lakers is the junior duo of guard Jenn DeBoer and forward Maddie Dailey. DeBoer, who leads the Lakers with 103 assists this season, is averaging 14.6 points per game while Dailey, who has 27 blocks and 23 steals, is averaging 10.1. 
 
Senior guard Natalie Koenig has broken the 20-point mark twice in her last four games and is now averaging 8.0 points and 3.2 assists per contest while Victoria Hedemark still firmly holds the spot at the top of the steal column with 64 swipes. The Lakers first sub in every game has been the hot-handed Taya Andrews, who is connecting on over 45.0% of her three-point attempts (56-112), and just recently scored her 1,000th career point. 
 
The Warriors come in with an almost dead even scoring margin as they average 64.0 points per game offensively while giving up 64.7 points on the defensive end. Much of their offensive output comes from their starting guards Nastassja Chambers and Ja'Nae Williams. They are both averaging 11.8 points per game while Williams is second on the team with 8.5 rebounds per outing while Chambers is shooting 41.2% from the field.
 
Also a big rebounder for the Warriors is Sam Cherney who is pulling down 7.2 boards per game to go along with 30 blocks.