UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball program hosted No. 1 Grand Valley State University Thursday night to open up GLIAC play. The Cardinals (4-3) fell 93-36 to the Lakers (8-0).
SVSU was led offensively by Megan McCalla with 11 points. Aleshia Jones had nine along with our Meijer Player of the Game, Beckham Hockley, who was 3-3 from beyond the arc, scoring the first points of her career. McCalla, Jones, and Ava Locklear tied for five rebounds each while McCalla had three of the team's eight steals.
The Lakers exploded out of the gates with a 9-0 run. SVSU got their first points from McCalla in the paint before the first media timeout. An 11-0 run for Grand Valley pushed their lead to 22-4 as the first quarter ended. GVSU picked up where they left off with a 10-2 run pushing their lead to 32-6 in the second. Lainey Yater ended the run with her first career bucket for her two points of the night. The Cardinals got buckets from Jones and Saniaa Walker down the stretch with free throws from Locklear as well ending the half down 43-16.
Jones started the second half with a three as the Cardinals broke off a 5-2 run in the third. The Lakers sensed the momentum swing and attacked as they charged with a 24-0 run in the quarter extending their lead to 48 points. They ended the third up 75-25. The bright spot in the final 10 minutes for SVSU was Hockley hitting a pair of threes as the Lakers extended their lead slightly, winning 93-36.
Head coach Jenny Pruett had this to say following the game,
"[At halftime] It was getting our style back and playing the defense that we know how to play. We lost a couple girls to injury, and it forced us to play a different style, a little slower style than we like. It also got Beckham Hockley some more minutes and she was able to hit a couple threes and get into her groove, which we've been waiting for her to do and I'm happy about that."
Up Next: Saginaw Valley women's basketball is back at home on Saturday, December 7 when they host Davenport. Tip-off of the Cardinals second conference game is set for 1:00 PM EST from O'Neill Arena.
