ALLENDALE, MICH. – For the fourth straight season, the GVSU women's basketball team claimed the GLIAC regular season title, defeating Wayne State at home 85-67 to take the crown. They are now 26-2 overall and 16-1 in league play, clinching the league's regular season title and number one overall seed in the conference tournament.
The Lakers led wire-to-wire against the Warriors, starting the game up 9-3. Wayne State cut it to two at 13-11, but
Avery Zeinstra buried a three to put the Lakers up by five. Later in the quarter,
Abrie Cabana connected on two straight threes, making it 24-13. After the Warriors got back within five,
Ellie Droste hit another three for GVSU, but the Warriors made a three just before the buzzer to make it 27-22 after 10 minutes.
The lead grew to as much as 13 following a fourth three-pointer from Cabana, with the Lakers up 37-24 with just over three minutes played in the period. Once again, Wayne State answered back, going on an 8-0 run to bring it within five points. The Lakers got it back up to 12 late in the quarter, but the Warriors scored five straight to end the half, making it 46-39.
Kathryn Schmidt hit a triple to open up the second half and put the Lakers up by 10 points. After two straight buckets from WSU, Cabana again connected from distance, her fifth of the day, putting GVSU up by nine. A
MacKenzie Bisballe layup made it a 10-point lead with 4:25 to play in the third, and the lead would never dip below double-digits the rest of the way, as the Lakers led 67-51 heading to the fourth.
A 7-2 run from the Warriors to start the final period made it 69-58, but GVSU responded with an 11-2 scoring run over the next 2:30 of action to bring their lead up to 20 points. Wayne State could not recover from that run, falling to the Lakers for the 22
nd consecutive time.
Rylie Bisballe led the way with 19 points, adding six rebounds, and four steals.
Abrie Cabana hit five three-pointers to finish with 15 points, while
Ellie Droste scored 14 points.
MacKenzie Bisballe tallied 11 points, four assists, and three blocks off the bench. The Lakers shot 53.3% from the floor and 46.4% from three and forced 26 turnovers.
Up Next
The Lakers stay at home for a Battle of the Valleys on Saturday versus SVSU at 1:00.