ALLENDALE, MICH. – The Grand Valley women's basketball team returns home for the first time in the new year for two key GLIAC matchups, as they take on Wayne State tomorrow night at 6pm, then turn around and play SVSU on Saturday at 1pm.
The Lakers are back home after a 2-0 road trip, picking up wins over Parkside and Purdue Northwest to move to 14-1 on the year, and stay perfect at 5-0 in GLIAC play. It took overtime for GVSU to get past the Rangers, but thanks to 31 points from GLIAC Player of the Week
Emily Spitzley, the Lakers took care of business in the opening game. To close out the weekend, PNW gave GVSU a battle for 40 minutes, but a strong fourth quarter gave the Lakers the weekend sweep. Spitzley averaged 21.5 points per game last week and is now up to eighth in the conference in scoring at 15.3 a game. GVSU continues to lead the conference in field goal percentage and three-point percentage and sit in the top-5 nationally in both categories.
Wayne State enters the contest with an 8-5 record and sit 1-4 in conference play. The Warriors lost to SVSU, Parkside, Michigan Tech, and Northern Michigan, while picking up the lone win over Purdue Northwest. Becca Fugate leads the team with 15.2 points per game and has upped that to 20.6 points in conference play. Fugate is also the team's leading rebounder, pulling down 6.8 boards. This matchup will be the 84
th all-time meeting between these two programs, with GVSU leading the series 58-26, and have won the previous 16 matchups.
The Cardinals enter the Saturday's game at 7-8, and 2-3 in league play, but are riding a five-game losing streak coming into this weekend. SVSU has beaten Wayne State and Purdue Northwest, and has lost to Parkside, Michigan Tech, and Northern Michigan since entering GLIAC play. The second and third leading scorers in the conference are Cardinals, as Kaitlyn Zarycki (2
nd, 20.1 ppg) and Tori DePerry (3
rd, 18.8 ppg) lead the Cardinals offense that is averaging 63.1 a game. DePerry is nearly averaging a double-double, as she is pulling down nine rebounds a game, good for fourth in the conference. This will be the 100
th game in history between these two rivals, with GVSU holding a 63-36 series advantage, and they have won nine of the previous 10 meetings.
During Thursdays game, the Lakers will be wearing special edition jerseys to pay homage to the West Michigan area. The women's design features the Grand Rapids city logo on the shorts, and the 616 logo on the back of the jersey.
Chick-Fil-A will also be available for purchase at Thursday night's game. Purchases cannot be made with cash. The first 250 students to the game will also receive a free t-shirt.
Both games will be available to follow through live stream on FloSports, live audio on the Ticket with Bryan Fongers on the call, or live stats. For full coverage of the game, including live in-game updates, follow @gvsuwbb on Twitter and visit gvsulakers.com.
