FAIRBANKS, Alas. - The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team traveled north and west to Fairbanks, Alaska to compete in the 2014 North Star Invitational, hosted by the University of Alaska. The Lady Cardinals opened play against the host Nanooks, posting a 75-66 win in a Thanksgiving afternoon contest.
SVSU improves to 2-1 overall on the season while handing Alaska its first loss of the 2014-15 campaign, dropping the Nanooks to 5-1 on the year.
Alaska grabbed a quick lead in the game and led by a 10-4 score at the 15:05 mark after a successful three point play.
SVSU used an 8-0 run from there and took a 12-10 advantage with 12:09 left in the opening half, using layups from Hailey Krewald, Briana Graham and two from Samantha Zirzow.
The Lady Cards would lead by as many as nine points in the opening frame as Shelby Herrington made a layup to make the score 26-17 in SVSU's favor with 6:48 left to play.
Saginaw Valley held the lead and Emily Wendling would score its next nine points, putting the visitors up 35-28 heading into the halftime break.
SV made good on 17-of-30 shots in the opening 20 minutes of play for a 56.7 shooting percentage and held a 22-18 advantage on the glass.
Wendling had 13 first half points and eight rebounds while Zirzow added 12 points and three boards. Danielle Carriere had six rebounds in the opening period and Graham had four.
A Wendling layup at the 14:56 marker of the second half built a 12 point lead for the Cards with the lead at 43-31.
A pair of Jessica Alexander free throws at the 5:35 mark would give SVSU its largest lead of the game with a 15 point margin and the score 62-47.
Saginaw Valley would hold the lead from there, using solid free throw shooting down the stretch to close out for the nine point victory, 75-66.
The Lady Cardinals finished the contest shooting at a 52.0% clip (26-50) while holding Alaska to a mark of 31.9% (23-72). Saginaw Valley held a 46-38 edge on the glass and owned the points in the paint category by a margin of 48-30.
Wendling earned Meijer "Player of the Game" honors for the second consecutive game, posting 29 points and 15 rebounds. The 15 boards are one shy of her career-high.
Zirzow finished with 18 points, six boards and a pair of steals while Alexander had a career-best 12 points to go along with three rebounds, two assists and three steals.
Carriere had a career-high nine rebounds to go along with eight points for the Cards in her first action of the season.
Saginaw Valley continues play in the three-day event with a matchup against Colorado Christian Friday at 6:00 pm eastern time. The Cougars come into the contest with an 0-4 mark on the season.