UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich.  -- The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team defeated the LSSU Lakers 59-41 in a conference match on Thursday (Jan. 9) evening at O'Neill Arena, evening their record at 7-7 overall and 3-3 in GLIAC play.

The victory gives the Cardinals one more win than last year just 14 games into the 2019-20 slate. 

The Lakers were first on the scoreboard but the Cardinals responded by scoring 18 unasnwered points to go up 18-2 in the first quarter. SVSU would score two more points in the first quarter, as Kaitlyn Zarycki put in the final points of the first half as the Cardinals led the Lakers 20-8.

The Cardinals scored the first points of the second quarter, as Zarycki found Kaitlyn Geers for an easy lay-in to extend the SVSU lead to 22-8 over the Lakers. LSSU fought back and outscored SVSU but the Cardinal defense held strong and ended the half leading the Lakers 31-20.

The Cardinals led by their largest margin of 19 points in the third quarter as Maddie Maloney scored five of her 10 points. SVSU held the lead despite being outscored 18-16 by the Lakers and ended the third quarter ahead 49-36. 

The fourth quarter was a low scoring affair and the Cardinals scored 10 points and held LSSU to just five, ending the game 59-41 in favor of the Cardinals.

Inside the Boxscore

• Leading the Cardinals in scoring was freshman guard Kaitlyn Zarycki who netted 11 points and had a team high of seven boards in the win with three assists. She was named the Meijer "Player of the Game."
• Also in double-digit scoring was Maddie Maloney, who scored 10 points, led the team in assists with six, recorded three boards and added a pair of steals.
• Just outside of double-figures in scoring was Ashley Buchholz, who had nine points, four boards and two assists for SVSU.
• Mariah Cook added eight points with a trio of rebounds and two assists. 
• Kaitlyn Geers had six points, five boards and two assists while Tori DePerry had five points and three rebounds with a steal and block. 
• The Cardinals shot 44.2% from the floor compared to the Lakers 26.0%

Postgame Interview - Jenny Pruett

Up Next...

SVSU is back in action Saturday (Jan. 11), as they host the Ferris State Bulldogs with tip-off scheduled for 1:00 p.m at the James E. O'Neill Jr. Arena. The team will be honoring Women's Basketball Alumni at halftime and Cardinal Alum Sue Guevara postgame. 

--- www.svsucardinals.com ---