TIFFIN, Ohio – The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team remained on the road for the opening weekend of the 2014-15 GLIAC basketball season, taking on the Tiffin University Dragons on Saturday afternoon (12/6) at the Gillmor Student Center. In another closely contested GLIAC matchup that saw SVSU down by as many as 13 points, the Lady Cardinals could not complete the comeback and fell to the Dragons by a final score of 61-57.
Tiffin took an early lead over the Lady Cards, but a pair of free throws by sophomore Emily Wendling brought the SVSU to within one point at 5-4 at the 17:51 mark. SVSU then went on a five minute scoring drought which allowed Tiffin to extend the lead before a made jumper by senior Briana Graham ended the scoreless streak to make the score 12-4 with 12:47 remaining in the first half.
SV cut the deficit down to 15-12 following a pair of Wendling layups, but the Dragons pushed their lead out to 20-12 following a pair of freebies at the 8:18 marker of the first half. The Cards used three-pointers by juniors Alex Green and Danielle Carriere to cut into the TU lead again to make the score 22-19 with less than six minutes remaining in the half.
Tiffin used a pair of three pointers themselves to open up its largest lead of the first half at 28-19 with 4:30 to play in the opening frame. Carriere responded with her second triple of the half to make the score 28-22 at the 4:07 marker. The Dragons closed the half on a 7-2 run to take a 37-28 lead into the halftime break.
The Lady Cardinals were led by Wendling and Carriere, who each had eight points in the first 20 minutes of action. The Dragons shot 44.8% (13-for-29) compared to 30% (9-for-30) for SVSU in the opening half, but the Cardinals out-rebounded Tiffin 21-17.
The second half started with the Dragons opening up the largest lead of the game at the 18:23 marker, as a pair of free throws put Tiffin up 41-28.
SV responded by going on a 7-0 run that included Carriere's third three-pointer of the game to make the score 41-35 with 17:11 remaining in the half.
The Cardinals kept battling and finally took their first lead of the game on a Wendling layup with 9:51 left in the second half, 46-45. The remainder of the game would be back-and-fourth as the teams traded the lead multiple times.
Freshman Jessica Alexander made good on one of two free throws to tie the game at 55-55 with 2:21 left in the game. The Dragons responded with a pair of freebies to take a 57-55 lead 14 seconds later. Wendling would knock down a jumper to tie the game at 57-57 with 57 seconds left in regulation.
The Dragons used two more free throws to take the lead with 11 seconds left. The Lady Cardinals could not get a potential game-tying shot off as a turnover gave the ball back to Tiffin with less than five seconds remaining. The Dragons added two more points to close out the 61-57 victory over SVSU.
SVSU was led by Wendling and Carriere who scored 22 points and 20 points, respectively. Carriere was named the Meijer "Player of the Game" as she set a new career-high in points and matched a career-high by knocking down four triples in the contest.
SV out-rebounded the Dragons 44-33, as senior Shelby Herrington grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds on the afternoon. The Lady Cardinals shot 45.5% (5-for-11) from behind the arc and 30.8% (16-52) from the field.
Saginaw Valley returns to action on Sunday, December 14th for a contest against Ashland University in the 2014-15 home-opener for the women at the newly-renovated O'Neill Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 pm against the Eagles (2-4, 0-2 GLIAC). Ashland defeated the Cardinals in last year's only matchup between the teams, an 84-78 decision in Ashland.