ALLENDALE, MICH. – The Grand Valley women's basketball team returns home for rematches with Purdue Northwest and Parkside. The Lakers will play the Pride Thursday night at 6pm, then turn around and play Parkside Saturday at 1pm.
 
Both games against these two teams were close affairs. The first game against Purdue Northwest, GVSU came away with a 62-54 win as they didn't trail after the midway point of the first quarter. Ellie Droste led the way with 17 points, and the Lakers outrebounded the Pride 36-25.
 
In the 83-73 overtime win at Parkside, the Lakers rallied from a double-digit deficit and forced overtime with a three from Emily Spitzley with 21 seconds remaining. From there they outscored they outscored the Rangers 13-3 in the extra five minutes. Spitzley went for a career-high 31 points in the win earlier this month.
 
The Lakers enter tomorrow's game at 17-2 and 8-1 in conference play, tied for tops in the league. GVSU is ranked at eight in the latest WBCA poll, making it the 26th straight week in the top 25 and the 17th consecutive week in the top 10. GVSU still leads the GLIAC in both scoring offense (78.3 ppg) and scoring defense (51.0 ppg) and hold the nation's largest scoring margin at 27.3 points.
 
PNW comes into the game in a funk, losers of four straight and 13 of their previous 14 games. However, only three of those losses has been by more than 10 points. They are 5-14 overall and 1-8 in conference, with the lone win coming at home over Davenport. The Pride are one of the best shooting teams inside the arc, converting on 50.1% of their two-point shots, but they struggle from deep, making on 29.1% from distance. Dash Shaw and Tadriana Heard lead the way for Purdue Northwest, with Shaw at third in the league in scoring at 18.4 points, while Heard is seventh, scoring 16.2 a game. This is only the 10th all-time meeting between these two teams, with GVSU winning the previous nine games.
 
Saturday's rematch with Parkside is a key game in the conference standings. GVSU is up one game on the Rangers, who are 7-2 in conference and 12-7 overall, but have won five straight and nine of their last 10, with the only loss being to the Lakers on January 5th. The Rangers are the second highest scoring team in the league, averaging 74.3 points, a number that they have gotten to 75.7 points during league play. That scoring is in large part due to Alyssa Nelson, the GLIAC's leading scorer, who is scoring 22.3 points per game this season. This game will mark the 22nd game the Lakers and Rangers have played against each other, with GVSU leading the series 17-4.
 
There will be a lot going on over the two games this weekend, as Thursday is Hawaiian night presented by Hot-FM. The first 1,000 students will receive a reversible bucket. Chick-Fil-A will also be at the game again and will be giving out 50 cookie vouchers to students. On Saturday, it is Kid's Day and there will be an inflatable Pop-A-Shot.
 
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.