ALLENDALE, MICH. – It was the Battle of the Valleys in the Fieldhouse this afternoon, but the game didn't prove to be much of a battle, as the GVSU women's basketball team never trailed and had 11 players record a point en route to a dominant 71-32 victory over Saginaw Valley State.
 
Emily Spitzley got the scoring started with a layup that began a 15-3 run to open the game for GVSU that was capped off by a Hadley Miller three which gave the Lakers a double-digit lead that they would hold for the rest of the contest. Two Ellie Droste free throws capped off the quarter with two free throws to give them a 23-8 lead after one.
 
An and one layup from Emily Spitzley put the Lakers up 20 points at 30-10. GVSU closed out the quarter one a 7-0 run, finished off by a Paige Vanstee triple to give the Lakers a 36-12 lead at the break.
 
SVSU opened the second half on a 4-2 run that was quickly stopped by to free throws from Droste and a three-pointer from Nicole Kamin. Two free throws from Abrie Cabana later in the quarter pushed the lead above 30 at 49-18, a 31-point margin that would hold up through the end of the quarter, as GVSU led 54-23 with a quarter to play.
 
It was all GVSU to close out the game, outscoring the Cardinals 17-9 in the final frame. After Rylie Bisballe and Spitzley began the scoring with layups, Vanstee followed with another triple to put the Lakers ups 61-25. Megan Crow would come in off the bench and finish off the game with three straight buckets to cap off the Laker win.
 
Paige Vanstee and Emily Spitzley led the way with 12 points each, with Vanstee shooting 5-7 from the floor and pulling down five rebounds. Ellie Droste and Nicole Kamin each recorded 10 points. GVSU outrebounded SVSU 43-34, as Vanstee and Lexi Plitzuweit each had five and three others had four boards. The Lakers blocked a season-high 10 shots, with Courtney Sharland and Rylie Bisballe each swatting two shots.
 
SVSU came into the game with the second and third leading scorers in the GLIAC in Kaitlyn Zarycki and Tori DePerry who combined to average almost 40 points a game, but the Lakers shut them both down, holding them to a combined 19 points on 6-22 shooting. The led to the worst scoring output of the season for the Cardinals, and it was the lowest point total the Lakers have allowed in conference play this year.
 
UP NEXT
Grand Valley heads across the bridge next week for two games in the U.P. The Lakers take on Northern Michigan on Thursday night at 7:30 as the second game of the doubleheader, before playing Michigan Tech on Saturday at 1pm.