UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball program got their first win of the season with an 80-57 victory over the University of Pitt-Johnstown. SVSU got scoring from 10 of their 13 players with four in double figures.
Victoria Stafford and Emma Dziezgowski both had 14 points to lead Cardinal scorers. Stafford with 6-6 and 2-2 from beyond the arc as Dziezgowski went 4-5 from three and 2-2 from the free throw line. Aleshia Jones had 13 points and had four assists, and Lydia Meredith had 11 points and five steals. Tyler Scheid led with 6 rebounds.
It was a great team game both offensively and defensively. Saginaw Valley shot 49.2% from the floor and 36.8% from the three along with a 78.9% free throw percentage. They also had 15 steals and forced 27 turnovers from the Mountain Cats.
The first quarter was tight as Jessica Massey and Stafford started the game with back-to-back buckets to go up 4-0. After a basket for UPJ, Jones hit a three-pointer to make it 7-2 SVSU. An 8-0 run for Pitt-Johnstown with two three balls put them ahead by two before Lauren Sollom hit two shots in a row to take back the 11-10 lead. The Mountain Cats pushed with two buckets to go up three late in the quarter before Stafford hit one of her two threes to tie it at 14-14 before the end of the first.
The Cardinals got out front in the second. A quick 4-0 run with two Stafford buckets put the m up 18-14. Both teams were trading shots as SVSU maintained the slim advantage until the last Mountain Cat bucket of the half cut it to 27-25 Saginaw Valley. That's when the Cardinals went on a 7-0 run to close out the half as they got a bucket from Massey along with five free throws, two from Jones, two from Meredith, and one from Massey to lead 34-25 going into halftime.
Pitt-Johnstown came out of the break with their best quarter of the game. A 6-0 run cut the lead to two before a Sollom bucket, a Dziezgowski three, and Jones layup pushed the lead back to seven. Back-to-back threes coming from Dziezgowski and Stafford extended the Cardinal advantage to 13 as they led 51-38. An 8-3 run late in the third for the Mountain Cats cut into the lead and won them the quarter 21-20, but SVSU had their best quarter in the fourth.
A 14-2 run for Saginaw Valley started the fourth as Jones and Stafford made a bucket, Meredith hit two shots, Massey made a free throw, and Megan McCalla got two buckets and a free throw. Dziezgowski hit her final three of the game to put SVSU up by 21 and then the free throws came up big. Emma Riley got on the board with one from the charity stripe as Scheid and Dziezgowski also drained two free throws extending the SVSU lead to 26. The game would end on a 5-2 run for Pitt-Johnstown, but the Cardinals would see the final time tick off the clock with them up 23.
Quick turnaround for SVSU women's basketball as they host Cedarville on Tuesday, November 21 at 6:00 PM at O'Neill Arena.
