The Basics
Score: Saginaw Valley 77, Wisconsin-Parkside 62
Records: SVSU (2-0) | SJC (0-2)
Location: James E. O'Neill Jr. Arena - University Center, Mich.
UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - After Saturday's season-opening 31-point victory over Wisconsin-Parkside, the SVSU women's basketball team kept it rolling with a 77-62 home victory over St. Joseph's College on Sunday (Nov. 13) afternoon. After trailing 2-0 37 seconds into the game, the Cardinals got the lead and never looked back the rest of the way, sealing the victory and 2-0 start to the 2016-17 campaign.
The Pumas got the opening bucket in the matchup, but Katelyn Carriere responded with a three-pointer at the 8:45 mark to put the home team in the lead. Buckets from Emily Wendling and Anna Hall, along with a triple from Halee Nieman, would push that lead out to 10-2. The lead reached double-digits after the first of three triples from Francesca Coury with 2:49 left in the quarter (15-5) and the opening quarter would finish with the Cardinals holding a 16-7 edge.
The Pumas drew the score back to 22-15 with 5:18 showing in the second quarter but back-to-back triples from Coury made the Cardinal lead 13 points at 28-15 with 4:30 to play in the opening half. That 13 point lead would happen twice more but three straight buckets from the Pumas cut the deficit to 32-25 heading into the halftime break.
For the second day in a row, SVSU put up 24 points in the third quarter. Wendling was responsible for 15 of those, going just 2-of-5 in the frame but a perfect 11-of-11 from the free throw line to extend the team's lead out to 15 points at 56-41 after 30 minutes of play.
Both teams had 21 points in the fourth quarter, with Carriere leading the way for SV with nine points. The team used a 7-0 run to lead by its largest margin of 17 points with 2:15 to play and the score 74-57. The run featured a Carriere three-point play and a pair of layups from Nieman. The Cardinals would hold on and remain steady until the final buzzer sounded, notching the 77-62 win over their GLVC opponents.
Inside the Boxscore
- Carriere had a game-high 21 points in the victory. She added four assists, two steals and a pair of rebounds. She earned Meijer "Player of the Game" honors as well.
- Wendling went for 20 points, including a perfect 12-of-12 from the charity stripe. She grabbed four boards and had two assists and a block as well. Her perfect performance at the line ties a single game record for free throw percentage.
- Nieman registered 13 points off the bench for the Cards, going 6-of-8 from the floor with three boards and an assist.
- Coury had nine points, compliments of her three makes from beyond the arc.
- Hall chipped-in with seven points, three helpers an assist and steal.
- St. Joe's shot 51.9% (27-52) from the floor while SVSU was 26-of-53 (49.1%).
- SV out-rebounded the Pumas by a 30-23 margin and held a 24-18 edge in the paint.
- The Cardinal bench out-scored St. Joe's as well, 24-11.
- The 2-0 start to the season is the first time since the 2003-04 campaign (6-0) that the team has opened up with a pair of victories.
From Head Coach Jamie Pewinski
"It's great to start out the year winning two regional games. Obviously, Katelyn and Emily were big this afternoon, but I thought Halee played great and gave us a huge spark. We have some work to do on both ends of the floor this week, but today we battled through some adversity and are happy to get the win!"
Up Next for Saginaw Valley
The Lady Cardinals continue play on the road against Ursuline College on Saturday, November 19. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. in Pepper Pike, Ohio. The Arrows were an NCAA Division II Regional Tournament participant in 2015-16 and played in the Ashland regional along with Saginaw Valley.
