The No. 1-ranked Grand Valley State University women’s basketball team (2-0) opened its season last weekend by picking up two road victories against Missouri Western State (0-1) and West Texas A&M (0-1). Playing on back-to-back days, GVSU won both games by double-digit leads, defeating Missouri Western State 83–61, and taking down West Texas A&M, 73–59.

In their season opener against Missouri Western State, despite winning the game handily, the Lakers trailed after the first quarter, 21-20. GVSU responded to this early deficit by dominating the next two quarters of action by outscoring the Griffons, 46-21,  running away with the game. In the second and third quarters, the Lakers shot the lights out, and tallied 23 points in each frame. Even with the Lakers’ scoring outburst dictating the rest of the game’s pace, the defensive effort after the first quarter equally served as a turning point in the contest.

GVSU allowed only eight points in the entire second quarter and 13 in the third, propelling the Lakers to an 83-61 win. Redshirt senior guard/forward Paige VanStee poured in a game-high 26 points on 8-14 shooting from the field and 7-8 from the free-throw line. Sophomore forward Mackenzie Bisballe and senior guard Avery Zeinstra also crossed double figures in scoring, with Bisballe scoring 13 and grabbing eight rebounds, while Zeinstra tallied 11 points. 

In the second game of the weekend road trip, GVSU got going early in the contest against West Texas A&M. The Lakers posted 22 and 21 points in the first and second quarters, respectively. Shooting with a high success rate, especially from three-point territory, the Lakers propelled themselves to a 43-31 lead after the first 20 minutes of action. 

Coming out of halftime, West Texas A&M responded to the Lakers by outscoring them in the third, cutting the GVSU lead to single digits going into the final frame.

Head coach Mike Williams noted how the Buffaloes responded to the Lakers, but emphasized his team’s big response in the fourth.

“They made a great run,” Williams said. “We called a timeout, talked about it and our leaders took over down the stretch.”

The Lakers held off the Buffaloes, leaving the score at 73-59 in favor of GVSU. Holding West Texas A&M to a measly nine points in the fourth quarter was a large component to holding off a late comeback attempt, and moving to 2-0 on the season.

Bisballe led the team in the scoring column with 18 points and 63% accuracy, along with snagging six rebounds. In second for points, redshirt sophomore forward Ava Scanlon notched 15, while redshirt senior guard Nicole Kamin posted 10 points and five boards.

Coming off a national championship victory last season, the Lakers look to repeat their successes last season and in these two games. Despite high expectations to win another title, Williams noted how staying in the moment as a group will be a key point to having this season go how they want.

“We are focusing on staying together as a group and having each other’s back,” said Williams, also emphasizing how the team is focusing on “doing the little things (to) get better each day.” 

He explained that just because the team is 2-0, doesn’t mean there aren’t points of skill to work on. He said the team is especially going to practice the “need to be sharper on both ends of the ball.”

GVSU has two weeks until their next matchups on the road against Walsh University Nov. 15 and Ohio Dominican University Nov. 16.