UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team posted a 55-45 home victory over the Northern Michigan University Wildcats on Saturday night (2/26) to in the Cardinals' final game of the season. The victory improves SVSU to 8-18 overall and 5-14 in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) play while Northern Michigan falls to 12-14 overall and 7-12 in league play.
SVSU ran out to an 8-0 lead in the contest after six minutes of play and would hold the lead throughout the first frame, extending the lead to 11 points at both the 6:32 mark and 5:28 mark, when the Cardinals led by a 20-9 count. The Wildcats went on a 9-0 run to pull the score to 20-18. SVSU would maintain that two point advantage, heading into halftime with a 22-20 lead.
Freshman Kristen Greene (Brown City, Mich.) led all scorers in the first half, posting seven points. Sophomore Cheritee Green (Wyoming Park, Mich.) led all rebounders in the first half with seven.
SVSU posted a 13-1 advantage in scoring off the bench in the first 20 minutes.
The Cardinals would keep the lead in the second half, leading by as many as 12 points when sophomore Jasmine Kennedy (Harper Woods, Mich./Grosse Pointe North HS) made good on a layup attempt to push the lead to 40-28. SVSU would close out for the wire-to-wire victory, holding on to post a 55-45 victory.
Greene had a team-high 14 points and added four rebounds while being named the Meijer "Player of the Game" for her efforts. Cheritee Green narrowly missed a double-double, posting nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds for the Cardinals. Sophomore Aysha Boston (Detroit, Mich./Renaissance HS) added eight points while senior Brittany Burkhardt (West Bloomfield, Mich./Walled Lake Central HS) posted seven points and five rebounds in her last career game in an SVSU uniform.
The victory was the first career conference victory for Interim Head Coach Joe Zinni as well, who guided the team to a non-conference victory over Urbana University on February 12.