HAMMOND, IND. - The Grand Valley women's basketball team moved to 2-0 in the new year, as they closed out a GLIAC roadtrip with a 62-54 victory over Purdue Northwest. The win moves the Lakers to 14-1 overall and 5-0 in conference play. 

The Pride jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but a layup from Nicole Kamin and a three from Hadley Miller gave GVSU their first lead of the contest. GVSU was attacking the rim early against PNW, as Lexi Plitzuweit, Hannah Kulas, and Ellie Droste all were able to get into the lane and finish at the hoop, and gave the Lakers a 16-8 lead after one.

The two teams kept trading baskets in the second quarter, as neither could go on much of a run. The Laker lead kept fluctuating between six and nine points for much of the quarter, and a buzzer-beating layup from Emily Spitzley put GVSU up 29-22 at the break.

Kamin went on a 7-2 run to open the third quarter and put GVSU up double-digits at 36-24. The Pride cut the lead down to four points, before Ellie Droste scored nine points to close out the quarter and push the lead back up to 10 for the Lakers at 47-37.

Droste would add another layup to begin the fourth quarter, and increased the lead up to 12 points. PNW fought back and brought their deficit down to six, but that was as close as they would get, as GVSU iced the game away from the line, hitting 9-10 free throws in the quarter and picking up win number 14.

Ellie Droste led all scorers with 17 points on 7-10 shooting from the field, all while adding four rebounds. Emily Spitzley added 12 points and six rebounds, while Nicole Kamin contributed 10 points on 4-5 shooting. Courtney Sharland and Rylie Bisballe each pulled down seven rebounds apiece.

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Grand Valley returns home next weekend for two more GLIAC contests, as they play host to Wayne State on Thursday, then rival SVSU comes to town on Saturday.