UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team pulled away late in the fourth quarter after a close battle with Ferris State University to earn a big Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win Thursday at the James E. O'Neill Jr. Arena.

Tied at 50-50 at the end of the third, the Cardinals took control from deep with Maddie Barrie hitting three 3-pointers in the final 10 minutes, including a pair late to lift SVSU to a 70-62 win.

The victory moves SVSU to 11-4 overall and 6-2 in the GLIAC

How it Happened:

• Kadyn Blanchard put Ferris State up 12-8 with a layup four minutes into the contest.
• Maddie Barrie hit a pair of 3-pointers late in the final minute of the first to give the Cardinals a 21-20 advantage.
• Ashley Buchholz hit a 3-pointer midway through the second to give SVSU its biggest advantage of the game at 29-25.
• Mallory McCartney hit a 3-pointer in the final minute of the first half for Ferris State to cut the Cardinal advantage to 34-30 at the break.
• The Bulldogs scored the first seven points of the third to move back in front.
• Tyler Scheid got into the action from deep with a triple late in the third to put SVSU up 50-46, but the Bulldogs hit four consecutive free throws to tie the game heading to the fourth.
• Down 62-61, Barrie took over for SVSU, hitting two 3-pointers to quickly put the Cardinals up by five. SVSU's defense held the Bulldogs off the board for the final 5:08 of the game to secure the win.

Inside the Box Score:

• Barrie led the Cardinals with 18 points, all coming on six made 3-pointers.
• Maddie Maloney added 14 points, five assists, and four rebounds.
• Tori DePerry finished with 12 points and a team-high six rebounds.
• GLIAC leading scorer Kaitlyn Zarycki was held to seven points, leaving her just 23 points shy of 1,000 for her career.
• The Cardinals shot 25-of-55 from the field, 11-of-24 from deep, and 9-of-11 at the line.
• Adrienne Anderson led the Bulldogs with 19 points.

From Head Coach Jenny Pruett:

Our seniors stepped up huge in this game. Obviously with Maddie Barrie and Maddie Maloney leading the way. But Ashley Buchholz came in and hit two big threes to give us a lot of momentum in the first half. Kyndall Spires came in and had some great defensive stops. I am proud of them.

Ferris plays the same offense as we do and they were beating us a few times on the slips so we had to make some adjustments. The team stayed calm late and really tightened up on defense. They were focused during those final few minutes of the game and made the adjustments when we needed to.

It was great to see such a big crowd tonight cheering for us. It is always great to see student-athletes here, cheering on student-athletes.  

Up Next:

The Cardinals remain home to host Lake Superior State University at 1 pm Saturday at the O'Neill Arena.