HAMMOND, IND. – The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team traveled to Purdue Northwest University to begin their season-ending road trip. The Cardinals (15-12, 10-7 GLIAC) fell in a close battle with The Pride (8-19, 4-13 GLIAC) where the Lady Cards struggled to find their footing in the second half.  

Senior, Tori DePerry, got the scoring started for the squad with a driving layup at the 8:10 mark of the first. Kaitlyn Zarycki followed with another layup that sparked an 11-4 scoring run for SVSU that was eventually capped off by a three-pointer from Emma Dziezgowski. Zarycki would knock down a pair of free throws a minute later while DePerry and Dziezgowski added a layup and three-pointer respectively, to close out the quarter leaving the Cardinals with an 18-15 lead.

The second quarter started off strong defensively for both squads while Lydia Meredith found her second steal of the game 45 seconds into the frame. Zarycki was able to make a fast-break-layup thanks to a defensive board grabbed by Tyler Scheid. On the next possession, Zarycki hit a step-back jumper that put SVSU in the lead by three. The Cardinals brought up the intensity when Lauren Sollom forced a turnover in the backcourt, and she was rewarded with a driving layup seconds later. The effort from the freshman ignited what would turn out to be an 11-2 run for the Cardinals. The Pride hit two free throws with 28 seconds left on the clock, but Zarycki was able to answer with three seconds remaining in the half to give the Cardinals an eight-point lead headed to the locker room.

SVSU struggled to start the second half, where they scored only 12 points. Nine of which, came from the charity stripe. Purdue Northwest went on a 14-2 run to open the half until Lauren Sollom knocked down the only field goal of the third quarter for the Cardinals which gave them back the lead. The pride would answer by closing out with six straight points leaving SVSU trailing 50-54.

The women's team battled back and outscored The Pride in the fourth quarter, but it was not enough in the end. The team forced a crucial turnover with 20 seconds left on the clock and called a quick timeout giving them time to set up the offense down by three. They were able to get an open shot that ultimately missed and grabbed a quick offensive rebound but missed on the next attempt as well, falling to Purdue Northwest 63-66.

UP NEXT

The Lady Cards are back in action on Saturday, February 25th at Wisconsin-Parkside to close out the regular season at 1 PM.