DETROIT, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team dropped a road contest at Wayne State University today (Jan. 12), 63-48. The Cardinals fall to 6-7 and 4-5 in the GLIAC with the loss, while the Warriors move to 9-4 overall and 7-2 in the conference.

Sophomore forward Samantha Zirzow (Goodrich, Mich.) showed signs of success early connecting on three of her first four shot attempts. However, the Cardinals fell behind as they struggled to get things going offensively from the start.

Wayne State controlled play for much of the first half shooting 44.1 percent as they held the Cardinals to just 6-of-29 (20.7 percent) from the field. The action was featured mostly in the post with WSU holding a 20-10 advantage in the paint after 20 minutes.

The Cardinals came out resilient in the second half and used a 2-3 zone defense to cut the Warrior lead to 11 points (35-24) after a Zirzow layup at the 17:52 mark. 

Wayne State pushed their lead back to 17 before the Cardinals forged a comeback attempt in the form of an 11-4 run that slashed the SVSU deficit to eight, 55-47. The surge was capped off by an Aysha Boston (Detroit, Mich. / Renaissance) three-point bucket in front of her hometown friends and family with 3:59 to play.

However, Saginaw Valley was unable to get any closer as the Wayne State advantage was too much to overcome. The Warriors finished on an 8-1 run over the final four minutes to take the victory by a 63-48 margin.

Meijer 'Player of the Game' Kayla Womack (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. / North HS) posted 13 second half points to finish with a season-high 17 points to lead SVSU. Samantha Zirzow recorded her second consecutive double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while freshman Emily Wendling (Flushing, Mich.) ended the day pulling down 10 rebounds. 

The second half charge resulted from the stingy Saginaw Valley defense holding Wayne State to just 27 percent shooting in the final frame. The Cardinals shot 50 percent (11-of-22) in the second half of the comeback effort.

The SVSU defensive unit allowed the Warrior to shoot just 35.2 percent for the game, but that performance was nullified by Saginaw Valley's 33.3 percent output.

The Lady Cardinals will be back in action on Thursday (Jan. 17) when they visit Northern Michigan University for a 7:30 PM start.