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ALLENDALE, Mich. – The #3 ranked Grand Valley State women's basketball team will play a pair of home games this week for the first time since Dec. 5 and Dec. 7. The Lakers will host Michigan Tech on Thursday (Jan. 23) at 6:00 PM before Northern Michigan comes to town on Saturday afternoon for a 1:00 PM tip. On Saturday, the Lakers will become the Sawyers in the second annual Sawyers Day game where the team will wear special jerseys commemorating the "what could have been" logo for Grand Valley State.
 
Sawyers Day Release
 
Last week the Lakers earned a pair of victories over Northwood (74-35) at home and on the road at Saginaw Valley State (57-42). GVSU has now held their opponent to 42 points or less for three straight games. Senior guards Taryn Taugher and Victoria Hedemark each scored season-highs in Thursday's win over Northwood by scoring 19 points and 16 points respectively. On Saturday, GVSU featured a balanced scoring attack with senior center Cassidy Boensch scoring a team-high 13 points. Hedemark anchored the defense with a career-high seven steals.
 
After the pair of wins for GVSU and multiple losses by the defending national champions, Lubbock Christian, the Lakers were able to move back up to #3 in the WBCA Top-25 poll. Currently, the top three teams in the nation are all in the Midwest Region, 1. Drury, 2. Ashland, and 3. GVSU.
 
Boensch leads the GLIAC in points per game (20.4), field goal percentage (61.4%), field goals made (137) and block shots per game (3.5), while senior guard Jenn DeBoer ranks second in assists per game (5.3) and senior forward Maddie Dailey is a close second behind Boensch in field goal percentage at 60.4%.
 
Michigan Tech enters Thursday with a 7-9 overall and 5-4 record in conference play. The Huskies lost a close battle in overtime with a red-hot Ferris State team 80-73 last Saturday which snapped a two-game win streak. Both GVSU and Michigan Tech protect the basketball extremely well as the Huskies lead the league in turnover margin (4.3) and fewest turnovers per game (12.8), while the Lakers rank second in turnover margin (3.6) and fewest turnovers per game (13.6). Michigan Tech also takes advantage at the free-throw line, shooting at an 80.1% clip.
 
Junior guard Cassidy Trotter leads the team in scoring with 13.5 points per game with sophomore Ellie Mackay also averaging in double-figures with 12.0 points per game. Trotter currently leads the GLIAC in free throw percentage at 86.6%.
 
Northern Michigan will take on last-place Davenport Thursday before making the short trip over to Allendale on Saturday afternoon. The Huskies currently support an 8-9 overall and 5-4 conference record and are winners of three out of their last five with the two losses being to Ferris State and Parkside by a combined nine points. Points should be hard to come by on Saturday afternoon as GVSU ranks first in the GLIAC in field goal percentage defense (32.4%) and scoring defense (50.6 points per game), while Northern Michigan only allows 57.5 points per game and holds opponents to 37.8% shooting, both good for second in the conference.  
 
Senior center Jessica Schultz averages a team-high 12 points per game and 6.5 rebounds per ame with fellow classmate Erin Honkala scoring 8.5 points per game and grabbing a team-high 6.9 rebounds per game.