UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team defeated St. Joesph's (Ind.) College today (Nov. 11) by a 75-52 decision to pick up their first victory of the young campaign. The victory closed out the GLIAC/GLVC Challenge which featured St. Joseph's (Ind.), Northwood and Lewis along with the host Cardinals.
SVSU found their stride early in the contest when Meijer 'Player of the Game' sophomore Samantha Zirzow (Goodrich, Mich.) picked off an errant pass and cruised to the bucket to take an 8-5 edge after four minutes of play.
The Cardinals pushed their lead to 17-9 at the 8:01 mark when Emily Wendling (Flushing, Mich.) capitalized on an and-one opportunity as she drew the foul and converted the free throw.
A deep Danielle Carriere (London, Ontario / John Paul II) jumper from beyond the arc increased the SVSU advantage to 37-21 as they entered the halftime intermission. The Cardinals held a 9-0 points off turnovers advantage after 20 minutes of play.
SVSU took their momentum into the second half thanks to a Katelyn Carriere (London, Ontario / John Paul II) layup to take a 19-point advantage three minutes into the half.
Strong shooting, effective ball control and pressure defense enabled the Lady Cardinals to cruise to a 75-52 victory as Emily Wendling recorded the final seven points of the afternoon for Saginaw Valley.
SVSU moves to 1-1 overall on the season after firing 50 percent from the floor on 27-of-54 shooting. The Cardinals also held the Pumas to just 28 percent shooting.
Samantha Zirzow led the Saginaw Valley offense with the first double-double of her career as she posted career highs in points (23) and rebounds (13). Zirzow went 8-of-14 from the floor and 7-for-9 from the charity stripe.
Freshman Emily Wendling dropped in 19 points and seven boards on 8-of-11 shooting in the second game of her Cardinal basketball career. Aysha Boston (Detroit, Mich. / Renaissance HS) also recorded 10 points on 4-of-6 from the field in the victory.
Saginaw Valley won the free throw battle over St. Joe's as the Cardinals got to the line 26 times compared to only nine for the Pumas. SVSU also outrebounded SJC by a 44-37 margin.
The Lady Cardinals will have the week off and return next Saturday (Nov. 17) to host No. 25 Wisconsin-Parkside at 1:00 PM.