The No. 1-ranked Grand Valley State University women’s basketball team (21-1) went 1-1 on a two-game road trip, picking up a win against Purdue Northwest University (3-19) before dropping its contest against Wayne State University (16-6).
Although they maintain their dominating ranking, this marks the team’s first loss of the season.
The first of the two road games came against Purdue Northwest, with the Lakers defeating the Pride 91-44 in a dominant showing last Thursday.
Purdue Northwest opened the scoring, but it was quickly all Lakers. This included an 11-0 scoring run immediately after the Pride’s first bucket, with nine of those points coming from redshirt senior guard Paige VanStee. GVSU completely took over the game by the end of the first quarter, going on another scoring run to lead 24-9 after the first 10 minutes of action.
Despite the imposing first quarter, Purdue Northwest clawed its way back into the match, cutting the lead to 11 with under two minutes left in the half. In those final moments before the break, GVSU went on a 6-0 scoring run, bringing their lead back to 17 at halftime, leading Purdue Northwest, 43-26.
The last two minutes of the first half and first two minutes of the second half were crucial in dictating how the rest of the game shook out. Coming out of halftime, the Lakers outscored the Pride 6-2 in the first two minutes of the third quarter, bringing their combined score to 12-2.
Those four minutes were indicative of what would transpire throughout the rest of the game, with GVSU outscoring Purdue Northwest 24-6 in the third and 24-12 in the fourth, bringing the final score to 91-44.
A large part of the commanding victory stemmed from GVSU out-rebounding Purdue Northwest, 46-20, including 18-0 in second-chance points off offensive rebounds. The Lakers also added an absurd 19 steals throughout the game.
VanStee led the Lakers in scoring with 15 points and six steals, while sophomore forward MacKenzie Bisballe posted 13 points and five rebounds. Redshirt senior guard Molly Anderson stuffed the stat sheet with nine points, tying for the team-high in rebounds and leading the team in assists with five in each category.
Coming into their Saturday matchup against Wayne State, the Lakers displayed their two-way excellence, but struggled on both ends of the floor against the Warriors, leading to their first loss of the season, 78-77.
The teams traded baskets for most of the first quarter, with the Lakers holding a small lead before Wayne State ended the quarter on a 13-6 run. Fueled by their 71.4 percent shooting as a team in the quarter, the run brought the score to 23-18 in favor of the Warriors after the first. Even with the Lakers staying afloat on offense, the Warriors were blazing from the field. Wayne State went 11-19 in the quarter to outscore the Lakers, 26-16, bringing the lead to 15 at halftime, 49-34.
In conjunction with Wayne State shooting over 60% in the first half, the Lakers’ offense was stymied, shooting under 40% in the second quarter.
Despite the long-ball shooting woes and the Warriors’ counters, GVSU actually outscored Wayne State in the frame, shooting 9-12 from the free-throw line, bringing the score to 66-53 going into the fourth.
With the score at 73-65 with less than three minutes to play, the Warriors made it a 10-point lead once again. However, the Lakers roared back with an eight-point run, with VanStee hitting a clutch 3-pointer to knot up the score at 76. After getting a stop on defense, redshirt senior guard Nicole Kamin split two free throws, giving the Lakers their first lead since the first quarter.
On the ensuing Wayne State possession, the Warriors drew a shooting foul and hit two clutch free throws to steal the lead once again at 78-77.
With three seconds left in the game, the Lakers tried to get the ball to VanStee, but it was stolen, and the Warriors held onto the win. GVSU’s comeback bid in the fourth was not enough to eke out a win, despite the Lakers outscoring Wayne State 24-12 in the final 10 minutes of the game. The final score displayed 78-77.
Kamin led the Lakers in scoring with 22 points and also notched three rebounds and three assists, while VanStee tallied 21 points and six steals. Bisballe poured in 10 points, grabbed six rebounds, and blocked three shots, with redshirt sophomore forward Ava Scanlon scoring 12 points and pulling down eight boards.
GVSU now sits at 21-1 on the season and 13-1 in GLIAC play after their first loss since Feb. 15, 2025. The Lakers will now look to get back into the win column with two home games this week, one against Roosevelt University (6-14) Thursday and another against Parkside University (11-11) Saturday.
