UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team fell on its home floor by a score of 94-74 to the Wayne State University Warriors in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) contest.
The visitors from Detroit built a quick lead and, besides three ties within the first three minutes of play, led throughout the entire first half. The Warriors built a 15 point lead with the score 35-20 at the 7:09 mark of the half, which was their largest lead of the frame.
SVSU chipped-away at that lead, scoring 19 of the final 28 points of the half to cut the deficit to just five points at 44-39 heading into the halftime break.
Senior guard Kayla Womack tied for a game-high 14 points in the first 20 minutes of play and added a pair of assists.
Fellow senior guard Kristen Greene had eight first half points and four rebounds while sophomore guard Katelyn Carriere added eight points and five boards.
SVSU shot 48.3% in the opening half while Wayne State posted a 52.6 shooting percentage. The Warriors held a 32-18 edge in first half points in the paint as well.
A jumper from Carriere just seconds into the second frame cut the WSU lead to 44-41 and after trailing by eight points at the 17:34 marker, back-to-back triples from Greene and Womack trimmed the lead to two points with the score 53-51.
That is as close as SV would get the rest of the way. The Warriors built a double-digit lead at 68-57 with 11:47 remaining and pushed the lead out to 20 points with just over a minute left to play.
That 20 point lead would serve as the final margin as well, as Wayne State closed-out for a 94-74 victory.
The Lady Cardinals finished the game shooting 44.4% from the floor while the Warriors posted a 56.7 percentage. Wayne State out-rebounded SVSU by a margin of 53-22.
Womack led the way for Saginaw Valley, going 9-of-18 from the floor, adding eight free throws for a team-high 27 points. She added four assists and three rebounds while being named the Meijer "Player of the Game."
Greene posted 20 points and four rebounds. Carriere was the only other Cardinal player to reach double-figures in scoring, netting 12 points while adding a team-high six boards.
After the loss, SVSU falls to 6-7 overall and 4-6 in GLIAC play. The Warriors improve to 12-2 overall and 9-1 in league play.
Saginaw Valley returns to action on its home floor once again on Thursday (1/23), as the Lady Cardinals welcome the Northern Michigan University Wildcats to O'Neill Arena for a GLIAC North Division matchup. Tip-off for that contest is set for 6:00 pm.