MARQUETTE, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball program travelled to Northern Michigan at the seven seed of the GLIAC tournament Wednesday evening. The Cardinals (15-14, 9-11 GLIAC) fell to the Wildcats (22-7, 15-5) with a final score of 81-60.
Aleshia Jones led SVSU in scoring with 24, shooting a perfect 10-10 from the free throw line. She added three rebounds and three steals as well and ends her two-year career at Saginaw Valley with 809 points. Ava Locklear followed with 14 points and five rebounds. The other three scorers were Saniaa Walker with nine, Megan McCalla with eight, and Lydia Meredith with five. Both teams started hot from the three as the Cardinals shot 71.4% from beyond the arc at halftime.
A tightly contested first quarter saw six lead changes. NMU took a 4-2 lead before Locklear drained a three to give SVSU their first lead of the game. The next three buckets were all threes with both teams trading shots and leads. A 5-0 run for the Cardinals came from Locklear with a layup and three ball to put them ahead 13-12. After two buckets for the Wildcats, Jones hit a triple in the final possession to head to the second tied at 16.
The second quarter became the downfall for Saginaw Valley. Northern Michigan outscored SVSU 30-15 and built the lead with the deep ball. Six shots from behind the arc and four of them from Jacy Weisbrod extended the lead for NMU before a 9-0 run late made it 43-29. A pair of free throws from Jones made it a 12-point game before a three pointer ended the half for the Wildcats.
Free throws in the third aided Northern Michigan. The Wildcats extended their lead to 21 late in the quarter. Jones cut into the lead with a 6-0 solo run scoring two buckets and two free throws. A 5-0 response from NMU gave the Wildcats a 20-point edge heading into the fourth.
Halfway through the final quarter, a jumper from Meredith made it a 15-point game. That was the closest SVSU got in the fourth. A 9-2 run for NMU late in the quarter gave them their largest lead of the game of 23. The final points came from Jones at the charity stripe to bring the final score to 81-60.
Season Recap:
Saginaw Valley women's basketball finished 15-14 overall with a 9-11 conference record, good for seventh in the GLIAC. The 15 wins is the second most in a season for head coach Jenny Pruett in her sixth season. She collected 16 wins in both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. The Cardinals have made the GLIAC tournament in all six years under Pruett. The season was an improvement from last year's season where SVSU finished 10-19 overall and 7-11 in the GLIAC.
McCalla finished the regular season as the number one scorer in the conference. After Wednesday's game, she still sits first averaging 16.6 points per game and Jones finished fourth averaging 14.6 points per game.
Saginaw Valley had 10 more top-10's in individual statistics in the conference. McCalla was also sixth in field goal percentage and tied-ninth in free throw percentage. Jones finished ninth in field goal percentage, first in free throw percentage, and tenth in steals per game. Locklear finished her freshman season tied-seventh in rebounding and third in blocks per game. Meredith tied for sixth in assists per game and was third in steals per game. Walker was close behind tying for fifth in steals per game.
