The No. 2 Grand Valley State women's basketball team fell in the GLIAC Championship today 57-51 to Ferris State. With just one loss in the regular season, the Lakers fall to 27-2 on the season today.

It was back and forth between the Lakers and Bulldogs from the start until Ferris went on an 8-0 run to close the first quarter and have a 13-6 edge over GVSU heading into the second. Chipping away, the Lakers brought within one after junior Emily Spitzley knocked down a jump shot to make it 15-14. GVSU would take their second lead of the game after sophomore Courtney Sharland made a layup to take the advantage 16-15 with 6:30 left in the half. Spitzley hit a three with 1:30 left in the quarter to tie it up 19-19 and the Lakers would close out the quarter up one (21-20). 

With the game tied at four different points in the third quarter, the last would be at 29-29 at the 4:30 mark. In two minutes time, the Bulldogs went on an 8-0 run to pull away 37-29. Scoring only five points in the remainder of the quarter, GVSU trailed 41-34 heading into the fourth quarter. 

FSU extended their lead to 12 at one point in the fourth until another Spitzley three-pointer brought it within five with just 2:50 left in the game. The Bulldogs struggled to pull away from GVSU as the Lakers closed the gap to three (50-47) with 1:30 left. Ferris responded with a three to extend the lead to six (53-47), but again, GVSU responded with a bucket to close the gap to four (53-49) with just over a minute left in play. Getting to the free throw line, the Bulldogs knocked five free throws over a 25 second stretch to extend their lead to nine and eventually win the ball game. 

Spitzley led the Lakers with 18 points and seven rebounds, followed by freshman Hadley Miller who finished with eight points, six rebounds, and two blocks.

Stay tuned to gvsulakers.com as the Lakers await their NCAA Tournament Seeding tonight at 10:00 p.m. To watch the selection show tonight, click here.