SAGINAW, MICH. – The Battle of the Valleys was in Saginaw tonight, but once again it was Grand Valley proving to be the better of the two Valleys, defeating the Cardinals 72-53. The win moves them to 23-2 overall and 14-1 in conference play.
 
SVSU opened the scoring on their first possession of the game, but GVSU quickly answered back with a layup from Nicole Kamin. The Lakers took their first lead of the game at 3-2 with a Hadley Miller free throw a minute later. The Cardinals came back to go up 7-5, but that was the last lead they would hold as Emily Spitzley and Ellie Droste both hit threes in the final minutes to lead 13-10 after one quarter of play.
 
For the third straight game, the Lakers dominated the second quarter, outscoring the Cardinals 18-7 in the quarter to take control of the game. Rylie Bisballe started it off with a jumper before Hannah Kulas and Spitzley both hit triples to start a 12-2 run to open the quarter. After the Cardinals scored five points, Paige Vanstee scored four consecutive points to close out the quarter with GVSU up 31-17.
 
Kulas hit another three early in the third quarter and Vanstee hit one of her own a few minutes later to put Grand Valley up by 18 at 41-23. That is the margin it would stay at to close out the quarter, as GVSU was up 51-33 with 10 minutes to play.
 
After a Cardinal bucket, Hannah Kulas scored five straight points, and a jumper from Abrie Cabana gave GVSU their largest lead of the game at 58-35. Saginaw Valley wasn't able to bring it much closer the rest of way, as Spitzley would hit two more triples to ice the game, and GVSU would pick up the season sweep of the Cardinals.
 
Emily Spitzley led all scorers with 21 points, drilling 5-8 three-pointers, while adding two steals. Hannah Kulas scored 15 points on the bench, hitting all three of her triples, adding three steals as well. Rylie Bisballe scored nine and pulled down eight rebounds, while Paige Vanstee had eight points and four rebounds. The Lakers shot 10-17 from deep and forced 19 Cardinal turnovers.
 
UP NEXT
The final roadtrip of the season concludes this Saturday in Detroit, as the Lakers play Wayne State. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 pm.