The Grand Valley State women’s basketball team used a 14-6 run in overtime to best Hillsdale 71-63 on Saturday night, avenging an earlier season loss to the Chargers.

The Lakers came out firing offensively and defensively in the first half. GVSU (18-7, 15-6 GLIAC) hit five 3-pointers and shot 48 percent from the field, connecting on 13 of its first 25 shots, which allowed the Lakers to build a 33-21 halftime lead. In the first half, the Laker defense held the Chargers (15-10, 11-10 GLIAC) to a lowly 29 percent shooting from the field.

“We were really thinking about the loss that we had last time we played them and about how bad we played at their place,” said junior Brionna Barnett. “We wanted to let them know that we are the better team and they couldn’t hang with us. We wanted to make a statement early, and we did that.”

As smooth as the first half was for the Lakers, the second half was equally rough.

Hillsdale came out gunning for GVSU, rattling off a 14-0 run to take a 48-44 lead with 10 minutes left in the game. The Chargers went on to outscore the Lakers 36-24 in the second stanza behind the scoring efforts of Megan Fogt, who had 15 of her 17 points in the second half.

The Lakers managed to battle back and force overtime.

“We had a roller coaster performance on the day today,” said senior Kat LaPrairie. “It was great to see us finally come out and start fast at home on a Saturday night because we have not been able to do that the last few Saturdays.

“The drought in the second half hurt us, but we had a great mental focus knowing that if we got the game to OT, it was ours. I feel in the second half, we played not to lose the game, but once we got to overtime we played to win the game.”

LaPrairie chipped in with 16 points, nailing three shots from long range, giving her 147 career 3-pointers. Those trifectas moved her into fifth place in the Laker record book, passing Crystal Zick.

Meanwhile, Barnett paced the Lakers in scoring yet again, dropping 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting.

Barnett grabbed a career-high nine rebounds, dished out a game-high four assists, made her first seven shots and notched her fourth 20-point night in her last 10 games.

Kayla Dawson also joined Barnett and LaPrairie in double figures by scoring 11 points and grabbing five rebounds. Piper Tucker scored eight points and grabbed four boards.

“I really loved the effort and the energy that we played with,” said coach Janel Burgess. “We played with lots of excitement, dealt with the adversity that we faced and found a way to win a tough game.”

The win keeps GVSU in a second-place tie with Northern Michigan, as both squads sport a 15-6 record in league play. The second-place team will host a GLIAC Tournament Quarterfinal game.

The Lakers close out the regular reason at Ferris State on Thursday at 6 p.m.