The Basics 

Score: Saginaw Valley 72, Northwood 54
Records: SVSU (15-4, 11-2 GLIAC) | NU (9-9, 6-7 GLIAC) 
Location: Riepma Arena - Midland, Mich. 

MIDLAND, Mich. - Coming off a solid victory over Lake Superior State on Thursday night, the SVSU women's basketball team had a similar result on Saturday afternoon in a matchup with Northwood University. The Lady Cardinals came away with a decisive 72-54 victory over the Timberwolves after making the short trip over to Midland. The victory keeps the Cards atop the GLIAC North Division Standings with an 11-2 league mark to go along with their 15-4 overall record. 

The opening quarter featured five ties, with the largest margin begin four points with SVSU in the lead on both of those occasions. The first came when Grace Whelan made good on a jumper to put the Cardinal lead at 10-6 with 3:50 leaft in the first quarter. After Northwood knotted the score for the fifth time in the frame at 12-12 with 1:22 showing, Anna Hall connected on two free throws and Emily Wendling hit a layup with nine seconds left in the half to give the visitors the second four point lead at 16-12 heading into the second quarter.

The lead reached seven points (22-15) at the 5:01 marker in the second quarter when Katelyn Carriere and Abby Duffy made back-to-back buckets for the Cardinals. Saginaw Valley led by as many as nine points in the quarter, using Whelan and Duffy baskets to push the lead to 28-19 for the Cards with 1:53 showing on the clock. The Timberwolves cut the deficit to five points with 42 seconds left, but a pair of Wendling free throws with three seconds remaining put the lead back at seven points heading into the half with the score 30-23.

Saginaw Valley's lead reached double-digits for the first time of the night when Hannah Settingsgaard made a free throw try to put the score at 36-26 with 7:59 on the clock in the third, capping a 6-0 Cardinal run that featured two freebies and a three-pointer from Carriere as well. After leading by just six points (42-36) with 4:42 remaining in the quarter, Saginaw Valley went on a huge 15-0 run to close-out the third with a 21-point lead, 57-36. Featured in that run were six made free throws from Halee Nieman. 

SVSU's lead reached as high as 22 points twice in the fourth, once when Wendling made a layup to make the score 61-39 and next when Carriere hit a layup with 8:15 left to put the count at 63-41. Northwood trimmed the Cardinal lead to 13 points with 6:36 to play (63-50), but that was as close as the Timberwolves would get for the remainder of the contest. Carriere made a jumper and followed that up with a layup to put the lead back at 20 points at 72-52 with just 11 seconds left. Northwood got a late layup to cut the score to 72-54, which is where it would remain as the clock expired and the Cardinals sealed the victory.

Inside the Boxscore 

• Carriere had a game-high 21 points for the Cardinals, adding two rebounds, two steals and a pair of assists in her 33 minutes of play. She was 9-of-14 from the floor shooting.
• Wendling posted a double-double in the victory, going for 12 points while adding 11 rebounds. She added two steals and a block as well.
• Nieman added 13 points, including going a perfect 9-of-9 from the charity stripe in the win. She pulled-down a season-high eight boards with two assists, two blocks and a steal as well. She was named the Meijer "Player of the Game."
• Hall was impressive on the glass again, grabbing nine rebounds for the second straight game from the guard position, matching her career-high. She had five points, three assists and two steals as well for the Cards.
• Duffy added eight points for SV while Settingsgaard posted seven.
• SVSU shot 49.0% from the floor and held the T-Wolves to just 33.9% shooting.
• The Cardinals held a 32-28 edge in points in the paint and had their bench outscore Northwood's, 14-4.
• Both teams had 14 points off of turnovers. 

From Head Coach Jamie Pewinski

From sophomore forward Halee Nieman

Up Next...

Saginaw Valley returns home to O'Neill Arena on Monday (Jan. 30), as the Cardinals host Wayne State University on a 6:00 p.m. matchup. The Warriors are coming off a 78-71 home victory over Lake Superior State University on Saturday. 

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