UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball program defeated Lake Superior State 64-63 on Thursday night holding the Lakers to eight points in the final quarter and coming back from an eight-point deficit.
The Cardinals (6-12, 3-5 GLIAC) were led by the Meijer Player of the Game, Victoria Stafford, who scored 20 points shooting 9-for-13. Emma Dziezgowski knocked down a pair of threes and shot 4-for-10 for her 13 points. Tyler Scheid had eight points and four rebounds while Lydia Meredith had seven points, five steals, and tied a career-high with eight points. As a team, SVSU generated 15 steals and caused the Lakers (1-16, 0-8 GLIAC) to commit 22 turnovers.
After a Stafford jumper to start the game, a 7-2 run put them ahead and was extended with a three pointer after a Jones layup to make it 10-6. A 4-0 Cardinal run with Stafford and Scheid layups tied the game before back-to-back threes gave Lake State a six-point lead. A 9-3 run in the later part of the first quarter tied the game at 19-19 before a final layup for LSSU put them up 21-19.
Lake Superior State started the second quarter with another three before two free throws by Jessica Massey and two shots by Stafford cut the lead to one. A 6-0 Lakers run kept them ahead through the middle stages of the quarter, but Dziezgowski hit a jumper and a three to cut it to 32-30. A pair of free throws put the Lakers up four before Stafford hit a jumper and converted on the and-one after a foul and made the final shot of the half to complete a 5-0 run sending SVSU to the locker room up 35-34.
The teams traded shots to start the third and traded leads until two straight threes for LSSU put them ahead 48-43. The Lakers had their best quarter of the game in the third winning the quarter by nine. A free throw by Scheid and another Stafford bucket closed the third with Lake Superior State up 55-47.
Massey started the fourth with a bucket, and after a Laker response, Lauren Sollom made two free throws to make it a six-point LSSU lead. A three pointer made it nine for Lake State before five straight free throws for SVSU with two from Dziezgowski, two from Scheid, and one from Meredith made it 60-56 Lake Superior State. A 7-1 run for Saginaw Valley started the late comeback as Stafford hit a layup to give them a 62-61 lead before capping the run off with a Scheid free throw. Two more shots at the charity stripe with 11 seconds left tied the game at 63-63. Then, with three seconds left, Stafford drew a foul to go to the line. She hit her first shot for a 64-63 Cardinal lead and missed the second which ran out the rest of the clock.
SVSU has back-to-back conference victories and looks forward to a tough matchup at home against the #6 ranked Ferris State Bulldogs on Saturday, January 27. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 PM at O'Neill Arena.
