UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team suffered a tough defeat at the hands of Northwood University tonight (Feb. 27) in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) North Division battle for playoff positions.
Saginaw Valley dropped their Senior Day contest against the Timberwolves by the final score of 83-68. With the loss, SVSU falls to 13-11 on the season and 11-10 in GLIAC play while NU improves its mark to 14-12 on the year and 12-10 in conference play.
Northwood jumped out to an early lead before back-to-back jump shots by Samantha Zirzow pulled Sagainw Valley to within five points at 12-7 with 16:35 to play in the opening frame.
The Timberwolves stroked it from beyond three-point range to maintain the edge in the early going. But an early substitution payed dividends for the Cardinals, as Grace Whelan provided a spark off the bench, converting a three-point play and adding a pair of layups in just over three minutes of action to pull SVSU to within 21-18 with 11:52 to play in the first half.
NU continued their hot hand to extend the lead to nine points before a Kristen Greene jumper closed SVSU's deficit to 27-20 with just over nine minutes to play in the half. However, Saginaw Valley would not be able to close the gap the rest of the half and a pair of free throws by Zirzow took the Cardinals into the halftime break trailing 43-33.
For the half, Northwood shot 46 percent from the floor (16-for-35) and 50 percent (6-for-12) from beyond the arc to build its 10 point lead. Saginaw Valley made good on 14-for-28 (50 percent) shooting from the foor and was 1-for-3 from the three point line.
The Cardinals also out-rebounded the Timberwolves 21-12, but lost the turnover margin 13-4. SVSU was paced by Zirzow's 11 points, followed by nine points from Whelan. After being honored at center court before the game for Senior Day, Greene went 3-for-5 from the floor to tally six points at the break.
The second half opened with both teams trading buckets as Shelby Herrington accounted for six consecutive Cardinal points to cut the deficit to 51-43 with 15:34 left in the contest.
However, continued hot shooting by NU combined with SVSU turnovers allowed the Timberwolves to go on a 29-8 run over the next seven minutes to balloon the lead to 80-51 with 8:30 remaining in the game.
The Cardinals finished the game tough, ending the contest on a 15-3 run to close out the with a final score of 83-68.
Saginaw Valley could not overcome the hot shooting of Northwood. For the contest, the Timberwolves shot 50 percent (12-for-24) from beyond the arc and 51 percent from the floor, while the Cardinals made one three-pointer on four attempts (25 percent) and shot 46 percent from the floor.
For SVSU, Zirzow led all scorers with 13 points, followed by a career-high 12 points from Whelan. Whelan was chosen as the Meijer "Player of the Game" for ther career night.
Kayla Womack and Herrington rounded out the scoring with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The Cardinals play their final contest of the year on the road this Saturday (Mar. 1) against Ferris State in a game that was postponed earlier in the season. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 pm and Saginaw Valley will make the GLIAC Tournament with a win over the Bulldogs.