The No. 7-nationally ranked Grand Valley State women's basketball team earned a big 73-50 GLIAC Tournament Quarterfinal win over the Wayne State Warriors behind junior forward
Maddie Dailey's 28-point, 11 rebound double double performance. GVSU improves to 27-2 on the season and remains undefeated on their home court with a 17-0 record inside GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. The Warriors season ends with a final 13-16 record overall and 8-12 record against conference competition.
The No. 1-seeded Lakers will now host the final two rounds of the GLIAC Tournament on Saturday, March 9 and Sunday, March 10. The two semifinal rounds will be played a 2:00 PM inside GVSU Fieldhouse Arena with the nightcap tipping off at 4:30 PM on Saturday. The championship game will be played on Sunday at 3:00 PM.
The Lakers will play in the 2:00 PM timeslot on Saturday against No. 4 seed Northern Michigan who took down Ferris State, 65-51, in the quarterfinals. The Lakers are 1-1 against the Wildcats this season, as NMU handed them their lone conference loss that was avenged just a few weeks ago when GVSU won the second game, 50-37.
GVSU had a strong first half as they shot 54.5% (17-31) from the field compared to the Warriors 7-23 (30.4%) effort. The Lakers finished 25-56 (44.6%) overall and were an efficient 18-22 (81.8%) from the charity stripe while the Warriors managed just a 31.4% performance.
The Laker defense forced Wayne State into 16 turnovers as they collected nine steals which they converted into 22 points on offense. Much like they have all season, GVSU also dominated in the paint, outrebounding WSU 41-33 while outscoring them 38-20 down low.
It was Dailey's second double double of her career and second in as many games, as she was 11-14 from the field, 2-3 from deep, and 4-5 from the charity stripe to go along with two blocks and a steal. Junior center
Cassidy Boensch chipped in 13 points and six rebounds while
Victoria Hedemark and
Jenn DeBoer added 11 apiece. Junior guard
Taya Andrews also had a career-high nine rebounds.
The Lakers got off to a slow start, falling behind 5-3 early before a quick 4-0 run put them down 9-3 with 7:30 left to go in the first. Over the next four minutes however, GVSU's defense would step up and hold the Warriors to just one point while the offense found some rhythm. An and-1 layup by Boensch tied the game at 10-all before she sunk her free throw for the first Laker lead of the night. GVSU then rattled off seven more points on a
Jenai LaPorte triple and back to back layups from Dailey and DeBoer to go up 18-10 with 2:52 to go. A three from Koenig would round out the score a minute later and the Lakers would enter the second with a 25-12 advantage.
Dailey scored the first six points for the Lakers in the second, nailing three straight jumpers before a DeBoer triple with 5:24 left put them up big, 34-14. A layup from the Warriors India Hawkins would be the last field goal of the half for the Warriors as the Laker defense once again buckled down. An 8-1 run would close out the half as GVSU went into the break with a 44-19 lead.
Boensch opened the scoring in the second half with four-straight for the Lakers as they went up 27, 48-21, two minutes in. GVSU's lead would remain steady around 25-27 points over a majority of the third before a 7-2 run to close out the period would slash the lead to 22, 61-39.
The Warriors kept that momentum going into the beginning of the fourth as GVSU's lead would dip under 20 points for the first time since the beginning of the second quarter, 64-45, after a Warrior three with 6:34 on the clock. GVSU would use a 9-5 run to close things out however, as the Warriors would never be able to string any offense together to make a late run.
Again, the Lakers will be back in action this Saturday, March 9 when they host Northern Michigan at 2:00 PM.
