The Grand Valley State women’s basketball team dominated their rival Saginaw Valley State Cardinals by a score of 70-48 in their first home game of 2018. The victory is the Lakers’ sixth straight with the last five all coming by double digits. With the win, GVSU improved to 13-2 (6-1 GLIAC), while SVSU fell to 3-11 (3-4 GLIAC).

SVSU jumped out to an early 2-0 lead a mere 24 seconds into the first quarter. This would end up being their only lead of the game, as the Lakers responded by winning the first by an admittedly slim 20-17 margin. That would change in the second quarter when GVSU stifled the Cardinals on defense, holding them to only 6 points in the period while scoring 17 of their own. They would keep the distance wide in the second half as well, winning the third and fourth quarters by a total score of 33-25.

One of the major factors resulting in SVSU’s noticeably low scoring output was an excess of turnovers, as the Cardinals gave the ball away a total of 22 times, which gave way to 23 points off turnovers for GVSU.

“We told them to be in a little bit more of an attack mode defensively, and we tried to gamble on some things, go after some things, and I think what it did was we forced 22 turnovers, but they got three or four back cuts on us that we don’t normally give up,” said head coach Mike Williams. “But you know what, you’ll take the 22 turnovers, and we got some runouts out of them. I thought it was good. I thought the kids saw them (and attacked).”

On the other side of the court, sophomore guard Jenn DeBoer led the Lakers with 16 points on 7-14 shooting despite missing all four of her 3-point attempts.

“I was really looking to attack because obviously my outside shots weren’t falling and that’s normally what I go to first, but I was willing to attack and draw and kick, and I was just really looking to get my own shot,” DeBoer said.

Senior bigs Korynn Hincka and Taylor Parmley each added 12 points of their own while combining for 14 rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks. Additionally, junior guard Natalie Koenig and sophomore center Cassidy Boensch contributed 9 points each.

After going through an 11-day hiatus over Christmas break, GVSU has now completed a stretch of three games across two cities in one week, leaving the Lakers with bumps, bruises and tired legs—but that is not an entirely bad thing.

“We’re banged up. It’s just the way it is,” Williams said. “The good thing is toward the end of the game (against Saginaw Valley State), we put some players in that don’t always see a lot of minutes, and I thought they played really well. They can keep taking each practice seriously and improving, so if we need them, they’re going to be ready to go.”

The Lakers will need to heal up quickly, though, as the No. 1 ranked Ashland Eagles (15-0, 7-0 GLIAC) stand in their way on Thursday, Jan. 11. The road matchup with the undefeated conference rivals is set to tip off at 5:30 p.m. from Kates Gymnasium in Ashland, Ohio.