GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Grand Valley State Lakers women’s basketball team showed up big against rival Wayne State Warriors, winning 71-41 on Feb. 8 at the DeltaPlex Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Coming into this match-up, GVSU was ranked third in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, while WSU was ranked fourth in the GLIAC. GVSU came out strong to finish the first quarter on top with a score of 13-4.
Building off the first quarter momentum, GVSU looked to finish on top with multiple players in double digits scoring wise. Guard Jenn DeBoer finished off the night with 16 points, only on seven attempted shots. DeBoer also garnered five rebounds, two assists and two steals.
“I think we just played with a lot of energy on both offense and defense,” DeBoer said. “We really worked together as a team on defense, which led to a lot of opportunities on offense that we capitalized on. I thought we had a lot of energy, everyone. That was a big key.”
Senior Guard Jenn DeBoer
Along with DeBoer in the scoring column was Natalie Koeing, raking in 12 points, progressing her career total to the 1,000-point accolade. Center Cassidy Boensch put up 11 points while grabbing nine rebounds and Forward Maddie Dailey shot her way to 10 points.
“We finally talked about the importance of getting stops,” said Mike Williams, head coach.
Head Coach, Mike Williams
I think we were worrying too much about missing shots, turning the ball over, fumbling it off our foot, and we just said, ‘That stuff’s going to happen.’ I think our kids are taking more of a mindset on that.”
Head Coach, Mike Williams
The Lakers will play four more games to finish out their regular season, two at home and two away, facing off with Ashland University on April 15 and Tiffin University on April 17.
“Any time you beat a really good team like Wayne State and play as well as we did, you feel pretty happy,” Williams mentioned. “They’re a really good team. They’ve beaten good teams. They can score. They can defend really well, and I thought our kids stepped up to the challenge.”
Head Coach, Mike Williams
GVSU now sits at 20 wins and 4 losses overall, and in GLIAC contention, they rank third with 13 wins and 3 losses.
The GVSU Lakers will compete in the 2020 GLIAC Conference tournament for the fourth consecutive season as the third seed behind both Ashland University and Michigan Tech.
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