HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball program had their first conference game of the season as they headed up to Michigan Tech Thursday evening. SVSU won both the first and fourth quarter, but the middle two were too much as they fell 56-51.
The Cardinals were led by Aleshia Jones with 13 points and a season-high 12 rebounds for her second double-double of the season. Victoria Stafford had eight points shooting 1-1 from the three and 5-6 from the free throw line. Jessica Massey, Saniaa Walker, and Megan McCalla all had six points as well. Massey picked up two rebounds along with her six points as she played in career game number 100.
SVSU started with an 11-0 run in the first getting a jumper from Jones and three pointers from Massey and two from McCalla. MTU made two buckets at the end of the first to cut the lead to seven.
The second quarter swung in favor of the Huskies as they scored seven unanswered to finish an 11-0 run of their own to tie the game. The Cardinals then took a 5-2 run to get them back ahead scoring points from a Stafford free throw and buckets by Walker and Jones. An 8-0 run for Michigan Tech with two threes closed out the half giving them a three-point lead after 20 minutes of play.
The threes continued in the third for the Huskies as they went on a 11-2 run with three threes and a layup to go up 12. Battling back, the Cardinals scored seven of the next 13 points in the third to keep themselves in the game.
SVSU won the fourth quarter as they drove back. MTU only made two shots from the floor to score their 17 points in the quarter with the other 13 points coming from the free throw line. A 9-2 run for Saginaw Valley coming from a Walker and Stafford three pointer, a layup by Jones, and a free throw from Tyler Scheid brought the game within five with six and a half minutes remaining. The Cardinals took advantage of an 8-2 run as Walker made a free throw, Maggie Keinsley hit a three pointer, and Stafford made four from the charity stripe to make it 46-44 Michigan Tech. The teams traded points as the Huskies regained a three-point lead when Lydia Meredith got a steal and a bucket late to make it 52-51. With seconds left, a technical foul sent the Huskies to the line and they hit four straight free throws to close out with the five-point win.
Women's Basketball is now 3-4 overall and 0-1 in conference play. They head to Northern Michigan on Saturday for another GLIAC contest before the rest of the non-conference schedule over the holiday break. Tip off on Saturday is set for 11:00 AM EST in Marquette, Michigan.