UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team used strong shooting from deep to pick up a midweek Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win over rival Northwood University Tuesday at the James E. O'Neill Jr. Arena.
The Cardinals earned the season sweep over the Timberwolves on the back of 13 made 3-pointers, including eight in the first half. After holding off a second-half Northwood rally, SVSU secured a 76-70 win, to push the Cardinals to 6-8 overall and 6-8 in the GLIAC.
"Having a sweep over anyone is really difficult this year, especially in our conference with the back-to-back games every week, but it is always special to get a sweep over a rival," SVSU Head Coach Jenny Pruett said. "It is good for us to build momentum going into the last couple of weekends of the regular season."
Down two with 4:09 to play, Kaitlyn Zarycki drove to the basket for a layup and picked up an and-one opportunity, hitting the free throw to give the Cardinals a 65-64 advantage. Ashley Buchholz drained her third 3-pointer of the game with 53 seconds to go to put SVSU up six, putting to rest the Northwood comeback.
Zarycki scored eight of her game-high 19 points in the fourth quarter to lead SVSU. She added four rebounds, four assists, two steals, and two blocks in the win.
Maddie Maloney finished with 13 points and a team-high five assists, while Maddie Barrie and Buchholz each added three 3-pointers and 13 total points. Tori DePerry pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds off the bench for the Cardinals.
SVSU shot 24-of-56 from the field, 13-of-30 from deep, and 15-of-17 at the line, finishing with 16 assists, five steals, 11 turnovers, while outrebounding the Timberwolves 30-28.
"We have been trying to run in transition and open things up for our shooters, and a lot of those threes are coming in transition," Pruett said. "We are really good shooting from the outside all the way through the roster."
Kenzie Seeley led Northwood with 14 points, while Jalya Strickland added 10 points and nine rebounds off the bench.
The Cardinals close out the home portion of the regular season with a two-game series against Wayne State University starting at 5 pm Friday at the James E. O'Neill Jr. Arena.
