BIG RAPIDS, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team defeated Ferris State University today (Feb. 23) by a final score of 71-66 to move one step closer to a berth in the GLIAC Tournament.
The women's contest began very similarly to the way the men's contest started as Ferris State (13-11, 12-9 GLIAC) ran out to an 18-6 advantage at the 12:52 mark of the first half. However, Saginaw Valley (13-12, 11-10 GLIAC) responded with an 11-4 run over the next two minutes to trail 22-17.
Kayla Womack (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. / North) managed to bring the Lady Cardinals within three (27-24) after connecting from three-point range with 7:36 left in the first half.
Saginaw Valley entered the intermission trailing 41-36 after firing 55 percent from the field on 16-of-29 shooting with nine assists.
In a slower-paced start to the second half, Samantha Zirzow (Goodrich, Mich.) helped trim the Bulldog lead to 50-49 with a short jumper off a pass from Kristen Greene (Brown City, Mich.) with 12:09 to play in the contest.
The Lady Cardinals took their first lead of the contest (54-52) at the 8:44 mark after a Katelyn Carriere (London, Ont. / John Paul II) successful jumper from beyond the arc on an assist from Kayla Womack. Katelyn Carriere increased the SVSU lead to 60-56 with four minutes to play after scoring nine straight points for Saginaw Valley.
SVSU momentarily increased their lead to six before Ferris State answered with a three-pointer to cut the lead in half. On the ensuing Cardinal possession, Kayla Womack silenced the FSU crowd with a three-point bucket of her own to give SVSU a 65-59 edge with two minutes on the game clock.
Ultimately, the Lady Cardinals played tough defense and made their free throws down the stretch to pick up the 71-66 victory. The victory moves SVSU one step closer to their first GLIAC Tournament berth since the 2006-2007 season.
The GLIAC Tournament takes the top-three seeds, besides Malone who is ineligible, from each division plus two wild cards. However, if Malone does finish as one of the top three, the South will take their top two teams and a third wild card will then be available. Postseason play is slated to begin on March 6 at higher-seeded campus sites.
Meijer 'Player of the Game' Aysha Boston (Detroit, Mich. / Renaissance) finished the contest with nine points but more importantly shut down one of the top scorers in the conference in the second half to lift the Cardinals to victory.
Katelyn Carriere led SVSU with 14 points, six rebounds and five assists, while Kayla Womack recorded 13 points, five rebounds and five assists. Emily Wendling (Flushing, Mich.) notched her 10th career double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds, while Sam Zirzow added 10 points and five boards in the win.
Saginaw Valley held Ferris to just 28.6 percent shooting in the second half and outrebounded the Bulldogs by a 21-14 margin in the final 20 minutes of action and 35-26 overall for the contest. SVSU shot 50 percent for the contest going 25-for-50 from the field.
The victory gives SVSU 13 wins on the season and the most since the 2003-2004 campaign when they won 16 contests. The 11th GLIAC triumph is the most since the 1998-99 season when the Lady Cardinals won 14 conference games.
Saginaw Valley will return to action on the road one week from today (Mar. 2) for the regular season finale against Northwood at 6:00 p.m..