ALLENDALE, Mich. — The GLIAC Tournament has begun for the GVSU women's basketball team, as Purdue Northwest came to town for a quarterfinal matchup. This was the third time the two teams met this year, and for the third time, it was GVSU coming out on top, taking down the Pride 60-43 to advance to Saturday's semifinals.
GVSU got off to a hot start, going up 11-2 to open the game, as Emily Spitzley hit two threes and Ellie Droste added another to jump start the Lakers. Grand Valley continued their hot shooting from deep throughout the rest of the quarter, as Nicole Kamin and Paige Vansteeboth buried a triple, and Vanstee hit an and-1 jumper to close out the scoring in the quarter with GVSU up 22-12.
The two teams went back-and-forth throughout the entirety of the second quarter, as Spitzley continued to lead the Laker offense, hitting another three and knocking down two free throws, giving her 11 first-half points, as GVSU led 33-25 at the half.
The Lakers got out to a 7-0 run to open the second half, started by a Courtney Sharland turnaround in the lane, and extended by an and-1 layup from Spitzley. The Pride chipped away once again, cutting it to nine, at 42-33, going into the final frame.
Vanstee took over in the fourth quarter, scoring eight points in the period, including starting the quarter on a personal 6-0 run to push the lead up to 15. PNW got it down to 10, but could not draw any closer, as an 8-2 run to close out the game iced the game for the Lakers and pushed them on to Saturday's semifinals.
Emily Spitzleyled the way with 18 points, adding four rebounds, and three assists. Paige Vanstee contributed 16 points and five rebounds. Hadley Miller grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, while Courtney Sharland had five rebounds and two blocks.
