GVSU women advance to Midwest Regional final with win over No. 2 Drury
ASHLAND, Ohio – The Grand Valley State women's basketball team had a back-and-forth game with Drury, but a strong fourth quarter allowed them to take control and win 61-53.
It was slow start to the game for both teams, as no one scored for more than three minutes into the game. The Lakers got the scoring started with a layup from Hannah Kulas and held an 11-7 lead after an Abrie Cabana jumper. A layup from Ellie Droste put the Lakers up six, but Drury ended with three straight points to make it 13-10 GVSU after one.
The Lady Panthers took the lead early in the second with four straight points. But the Lakers answered back to go up 17-14 after four consecutive points from Hadley Miller. The two teams traded points after that before Drury hit a three late in the quarter to tie it at 19 heading into the break.
On the Lakers second possession of the second half, Emily Spitzley hit the Lakers first triple of the game, putting them up 24-21, and she would hit another one minutes later to break a 28-28 deadlock. Drury tied it right back up as part of a 10-4 run to end the quarter, as they led 38-35 with 10 minutes remaining.
That lead got pushed up to six at 43-37 early in the fourth, but Ellie Droste came up clutch for the second consecutive day, hitting back-to-back triples to tie the game right back up. A personal 6-0 run from Cabana gave the Lakers the lead at 50-48. They would hold the lead the rest of the way, as they hit nine free throws in the final three minutes to put the game away.
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The win moves the Lakers to 31-2 on the season, their second consecutive 30+ win seasons, and for the second consecutive season they knocked the Lady Panthers out of the postseason in the Regional Semifinals.
Ellie Droste once again led the way offensively, scoring 17 points, knocking down seven clutch free throws to seal the win. Emily Spitzley scored 10, hitting two big three-pointers in the second half, while grabbing six rebounds as well. Abrie Cabana also scored 10 points, eight in the second half. Rylie Bisballe had five rebounds and Nicole Kamin had three blocks, two on the final possession for the Lady Panthers to stop Drury from scoring.
UP NEXTGVSU advances to the Midwest Regional championship where they will play the winner of Ashland and Trevecca Nazarene. The game will be played 7 p.m. Monday.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: GVSU women advance to Midwest Regional final with win over Drury
