The Grand Valley State women’s basketball team handily defeated the Davenport University Panthers 75-41 in Grand Rapids on Saturday, Dec. 2. The win moves the Lakers up to 7-1 (2-0 GLIAC), while DU falls to 1-6 (0-2 GLIAC).

The Panthers came out of the gates fighting and even took a 1-point lead after making a 3-pointer about three minutes into the first quarter. But an offensive rebound after a missed free throw and a bucket to follow would put the Lakers up for good as they ran away with a 19-7 first-quarter tally followed by an 18-8 run in the second quarter.

The Lakers would win both second-half quarters 17-14 and 21-12 to close out their new rivals and load up the bus for a short ride home with a commanding victory in hand.

“I definitely think that we did a good job finding open players for shots,” said sophomore guard Jenn DeBoer. “We shot well around the arc, which is something we struggled with early, but we have good shooters, so it’s finally starting to click. We started getting rebounds, and we did a good job playing fast with good tempo, which is something we’ve been stressing lately.”

Triples were raining from the rafters for GVSU as they shot 50 percent from beyond the arc on 11-22 shooting. DeBoer made four of her six triple attempts on her way to scoring a team-high 16 points while also dishing out six assists and grabbing four rebounds.

Senior forward Taylor Parmley also scored 16 points while hauling in six boards of her own, three of which were off misses. Junior guard Natalie Koening had 13 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals, while senior center Korynn Hincka scored 9 with six rebounds, three assists and three steals.

All 13 players on the roster got several minutes of playing time, and nine different Lakers scored.

“Hincka had a good game; Taylor Parmley did well again,” said head coach Mike Williams. “Our two leaders, they’re just doing really well out there. They’re consistent and solid, and they don’t make mistakes. That’s what your seniors should do.”

The Lakers led the game in rebounds, assists, steals, points in the paint, points off turnovers and second-chance points while committing fewer fouls and making fewer turnovers than their opponents.

However, they are not yet satisfied with their performance.

“Again, we got to do a better job rebounding,” Williams said. “We did better in the second half than we did in the first, so we addressed that at halftime, and we have to do a better job attacking the rim with our guards from the outside. With how we were shooting the ball, that would give us better options offensively.”

Those were not the only things the Lakers saw in the 34-point drubbing that they want to fix, either.

“Definitely defensively we need to get better at guarding around the basket and perimeter,” DeBoer said. “We need to hunt down rebounds and be more aggressive on defense and on offense, just getting our eyes up and finishing around the basket. I think that if we fix up those things it’ll help us a lot more.”

Overall, though, GVSU can take solace in knowing that they held the Panthers to 30.2 percent shooting from the field and 19 percent from distance with this being the third straight game they outshot their opponents from both metrics.

GLIAC play continues for the Lakers on Thursday, Dec. 7, when they play their first “Downtown Thursday” game of the season at the Deltaplex Arena in Grand Rapids. They will welcome the Michigan Tech Huskies (8-1, 2-0 GLIAC) to the city, with tip-off scheduled for 8 p.m.