Even with a veteran-filled roster, the Grand Valley State University women’s basketball team could not overcome a slow start and a potent Michigan State University offense, falling in an exhibition matchup 81-23 Sunday.

Despite returning 95 percent of its scoring from a season ago, GVSU struggled shooting the ball against the Division I Spartans and fell behind 17-1 to start the game.

The Michigan State defense did not let up after building a double-digit lead. The Lakers were held to a total of seven points and did not make a shot from the floor during the opening 20 minutes.

“Whenever you start 0-26 (from the field) in a game and that’s how you finish in the first half that’s pretty tough,” said GVSU head coach Janel Burgess. “I thought we had a lot of nice looks, it was 5-1 at one point, and we had a nice little lay up that we missed. You can look at all those miss shots and think if a couple of them would have went in, it would have had a different feel to the game.”

Still, the Lakers are focusing on the positive elements displayed in the game to help them improve going into the regular season.

“Overall, I am very proud of the kids in the sense that we did attack, we got to the free-throw line 15 times and had quite a few offensive rebounds,” Burgess said. “So there are some positives to build on.”

During halftime, GVSU was able to regroup and make some improvements on both sides of the ball, which helped the Lakers establish an improved offensive flow.

Senior Kara Crawford said the first half defensive effort was solid by the Lakers. Coming out of half time, GVSU was focused on making adjustments to open up their shots and using ball screens to maintain solid play on the defensive end.

The ability to relax and hit open shots at the start of the second half allowed the Lakers to more than double their scoring from the first 20 minutes. However, the Lakers fell by a final score of 75-23.

For junior Briauna Taylor, playing a Division I opponent such as Michigan State is a fun way to start the season and a great way to address the Lakers strengths and weaknesses, which will help GVSU improve.

“Playing a bigger team like that shows a lot of our weaknesses,” she said. “I think we can work on rebounding and taking care of the ball.”

GVSU will be back in action at 2.pm. on Nov. 13 when they take on St. Joseph College in Rensselaer, Ind.

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