UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball program hosted Davenport for their second GLIAC game of the season. The Cardinals (4-4, 0-2 GLIAC) fell 61-59 to the Panthers (2-6, 1-1 GLIAC).
Meijer Player of the Game, Aleshia Jones, led all scorers with a season high 29 points, shooting 11-18 from the floor and 5-9 from the three. Megan McCalla was the next double-digit scorer with 11 points. Saniaa Walker tied a career-high hauling down eight rebounds with Lydia Meredith and Ava Locklear had seven. That's Locklear's fourth time this season with a career high seven boards.
The back-and-forth game had 13 lead changes and 12 ties with the biggest lead being six for the Panthers. SVSU took the first lead with a McCalla turnaround in the paint. A three for her extended the lead before DU came back and took the lead on free throws. A three for Davenport made it 13-10 before the last bucket of the first quarter came from McCalla to cut the lead to one. A 4-0 run tied the game 16-16 with a Walker three. Jones hit a three to take the lead for the Cardinals. Late in the half, Davenport flipped the advantage before Lainey Yater took it back for SVSU with a layup. A Panther three tied the game 26-26 before a Jones free throw gave the Cardinals a one-point lead heading into the halftime break.
The third quarter had the largest scoring margin with Davenport leading 19-15. DU tied the game four separate times before taking the lead with free throws midway through the period. After another tie, a pair of Panther threes gave them a 44-38 lead. Two Locklear free throws cut the advantage to three before the fourth quarter. The Cardinals tied the game twice more in the fourth quarter but never held another lead with Jones hitting a three at the end to make it a two-point margin.
Up Next: Saginaw Valley women's basketball goes back to non-conference play hosting Thomas More on Thursday, December 19 and Tiffin on Sunday, December 22 to finish the 2024 calendar year. Tip-off at O'Neill Arena against the Saints is set for 5:30 PM.
