UNIVERSITY CENTER — The Lady Cardinals faced their first GLIAC opponent of the 2018-19 campaign, taking on the Michigan Tech Huskies in O'Neill Arena Thursday night. SVSU fell 68-57 in their home opener, leading the team to a 0-1 start in conference play. Tech heads to a 4-3 overall record, 1-0 in GLIAC play.
For the first four minutes of action, the Cardinals struggled to find the basket, as MTU led 3-0 until a layup from senior Abby Duffy cut the lead to one (3-2) at the media timeout.
Two good shots from the charity stripe for Mariah Cook gave Saginaw Valley the 4-3 lead for just a moment, which was later extended to 11-5 with baskets from Julia Cianferra and Hannah Settingsgaard. Saginaw Valley headed into the second quarter leading 13-9 over the Huskies.
After knotting up twice in the second quarter, Michigan Tech fought valiantly in the final minute of action to round out the first half on top of the Cardinals, 27-23.
Duffy led two categories at the halftime break, scoring seven points and posting six boards.
Maddie Barrie opened up the third quarter with back-to-back buckets, earning her ninth point of the night. Although, the Huskies pushed back to outscore SVSU 18-13 in the third quarter.
The Cardinals and Huskies battled in the final quarter, but Saginaw Valley was not able to overcome the deficit from the third quarter, falling 68-57 in the GLIAC opener in O'Neill Arena.
Inside the Box Score:
- Barrie continued to lead the Cardinal offense, finishing the night with a career-high 26 points, while adding one board. She earned Meijer Player of the Game accolades.
- Duffy finished the night with a team-high nine boards. She added 10 points as well.
- Cook recorded her season-high of seven boards while adding five points and a solo assist.
- Settingsgaard added five points, three rebounds and three assists.
- Maddie Maloney added the team-high of seven assists.
From Interim Head Coach Ryan Trevithick
"Overall we had a lot of good things happen tonight and a lot of positives to take away that unfortunately will be over shadowed by the final score. Much respect goes to Tech and Coach Hoyt as they made us uncomfortable for 40 minutes. We look forward to the opportunity to compete again Saturday against Northern Michigan and will prepare ourselves tomorrow in practice."
Up Next...
The SVSU Cardinals will continue on their homestand, taking on the Northern Michigan Wildcats on Saturday, Dec. 1st. Tip-off is slated for 1 p.m.
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