UNIVERSITY CENTER - Mich., The Saginaw Valley women's basketball team was victorious tonight (Jan. 10) against Lake Superior State University by a score of 68-52. With the victory, the Cardinals improve to 6-6 overall and 4-4 in the conference, while the Lakers drop to 4-9 and 3-6 in GLIAC play.

Saginaw Valley ran out to an early 10-4 lead after Katelyn Carriere (London, Ontario / John Paul II) knocked down a three-pointer at the 15:54 mark as the Cardinals were clicking early on both the offensive and defensive ends.

After the Lakers knotted the contest at 17-17, back-to-back Emily Wendling (Flushing, Mich.) buckets in the paint gave the Cardinals a 21-17 advantage at the 6:47 mark of the first half.

Freshman Paige Wright (Fort Wayne, Ind. / Northrop HS) extended the SVSU lead to 24-19 after connecting from the three-point arc with five minutes left until halftime.

Saginaw Valley entered the intermission with a 27-19 lead after holding the Lakers scoreless during the final six minutes of the first half. The 19 first half points allowed by SVSU was a season-best for the Lady Cardinals defensively as they held the Lakers to just 27.3 percent shooting. 

Meijer 'Player of the Game' Samantha Zirzow (Goodrich, Mich.) came out aggressive in the second half scoring 11 of the Cardinals' first 13 points in the first five minutes as Saginaw Valley increased their lead to 40-25 over the Lakers with 14:54 remaining in the contest.

The Cardinals controlled play on both ends of the court for the majority of the second half, extending their lead to as many as 23 points at the 9:53 mark.

Lake Superior made a run late and the SVSU lead was trimmed to 61-47. However, Samantha Zirzow converted on an and-1 opportunity to push the lead back up to 17 with five minutes to go as the Cardinals regained control the rest of the evening.

The Lady Cardinals held the lead for the entire contest, with just three ties occurring in the first half, on their way to the 68-52 victory.

Emily Wendling finished the contest with the seventh double-double of her freshman campaign as she recorded 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting and a season-high 16 rebounds. Sam Zirzow notched her second double-double this year with 18 points as she connected on 7-of-9 shots along with ten rebounds. The two Cardinal forwards powered SVSU to a 30-18 points in the paint advantage.

Katelyn Carriere also chipped in with eight points and five assists in the victory for SVSU. 

Saginaw Valley used a 60.7 percent shooting performance in the second half, connecting on 17-of-28 from the field, en route to a 41-33 second half advantage. 

SVSU finished the night shooting 47.5 percent, while holding LSSU to just 33.9 percent. Saginaw Valley also outrebounded Lake Superior by a dominant 47-27 margin.

SVSU head coach Jamie Pewinski spent 12 seasons on the coaching staff at Lake Superior State, including five as head coach before joining the Cardinals.

The Lady Cardinals will return to the floor this Saturday (Jan. 12) on the road against Wayne State University at 3:00 PM.