Grand Valley State’s women’s basketball team may have gotten off to a tough start early in the week, but if there’s one thing GVSU coach Mike Williams can count on his team to do, it’s finish strong.

The Lakers (15-5, 10-4 GLIAC) lost to rival Saginaw Valley State (13-6, 10-4 GLIAC) on the road 68-65 on Jan. 28, and bounced back at home on Jan. 30 against Hillsdale (9-9, 6-8 GLIAC), 63-42.

“I think our kids showed they’ve got some bounce-back,” Williams said. “The nice thing is, is this group has done it all year. When they lose, they come back and bounce back. That’s just who they are — they’re pretty resilient, and that’s a good thing.”

Despite being within a basket for most of the game, some second-half woes led to the loss against the Cardinals. The Lakers ended the third quarter on the wrong end of a 14-2 run. In the fourth quarter, the Lakers missed 12 shots and turned the ball over four times in the final four minutes.

Kayla Dawson led the Lakers with 17 points. Brionna Barnett finished with 16, but led the team in turnovers with seven.

Four of the five SVSU starters finished with double figures in scoring. Katelyn Carriere notched five steals to go with her 12 points on the night.

“We kind of got punched, and it was one of those things where you get punched, and you’ve got to stand back up and come back swinging,” said GVSU’s Lindsay Baker.

Against Hillsdale, the Lakers could come back swinging — although they started the day on the ropes. The Lakers took a 12-11 first quarter lead in a game where both offenses were sluggish and stagnant. The two teams combined for 12 turnovers and just nine field goals in the first quarter.

The slow start on offense came as no surprise, as the Lakers were without Barnett, who is day-to-day with a back injury.

While the Chargers geared up for a defensive stalemate, the Lakers had other plans. Right out of the gate in the second, Laker forward Taylor Parmley extended her range and knocked down a triple.

Moments later, Dawson got a defender with a pump fake and knocked down a baseline jump shot. After a Hillsdale turnover, GVSU’s Piper Tucker unloaded a 3-pointer from way behind the arc and pushed the Laker scoring run to 8-0, forcing the Chargers to call timeout.

“Obviously we were a little mad about the (SVSU) loss that we had, so that put a chip on our shoulder, especially for the defensive side,” Dawson said.

The Lakers outscored the Chargers 25-8 in the second to give GVSU a 37-19 lead that was never relinquished.

“Lindsay came in and gave us a shot in the arm, hit three or four (3-pointers) for us,” Williams said. “That second quarter set the tone.”

Baker hit five 3-pointers in the game, and was a part of an 11-of-24 shooting performance as a team from behind the arc. The Chargers struggled mightily from 3-point range, hitting only 2-of-27 attempts as a team. Their first didn’t come until about two minutes left in the third.

Overall, the Chargers only shot 19-of-67 as a team.

“Giving up 27 (3-point) looks is something that we need to work on, but the fact that they only made two means we were getting out there enough to rush their shots,” said Baker. “The energy of our defense made them scramble and hurry for shots.”

The Lakers have a three-game road trip this week. They go to Ferris State on Feb. 1, Northern Michigan on Feb. 4 and finish at Michigan Tech on Feb. 6.