UNIVERSITY CENTER – The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team hosted another Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) South Division opponent in the University of Findlay Oilers on Thursday (Jan. 8) night at SVSU's O'Neill Arena. The Lady Cardinals fell down by double-digits in the second half, but had all five starters score in double-figures to record a 68-62 victory over the Oilers.
The Oilers took an early 4-2 lead, but the Lady Cardinals answered by scoring the next 12 points to take a 14-4 lead at the 14:01 mark. The 12-0 run was capped by back-to-back triples from freshman Jessica Alexander and junior Danielle Carriere.
SVSU opened up its largest lead of the first half following another three-pointer by junior Alex Green to make the score 17-6 with just over 13 minutes to play in the opening frame.
Findlay cut the Cardinal lead down to 24-18 at the 9:13 marker, but the Cards answered by scoring the next seven points to match its largest lead of the half at 11 points (29-18) with 6:14 remaining in the half. The Oilers responded to the SVSU run by going on a 9-0 run themselves to pull within one point at 29-28 with 1:27 showing on the clock.
Senior Samantha Zirzow made good on a layup to make the score 31-28 with less than a minute to play in the half. The Oilers closed out the scoring in the first half with a layup to send the teams into the halftime break with the score 31-30 in the Cardinals' favor.
Zirzow led the home team with 9 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field. She hauled in three rebounds in the first 20 minutes of play. Sophomore Emily Wendling chipped-in with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting and pulled in five boards. Carriere knocked down two triples and finished the half with six points and three rebounds. SVSU shot 54.2 percent (13-of-24) from the field and was 4-for-8 from behind the arc. The Cardinals outrebounded the Oilers by an 18-13 margin and outscored the visitors 18-16 in the paint.
Findlay opened the second half by knocking down a triple to take its first lead of the game since the 17:28 mark of the first half. The Oilers scored the first eight points of the half to take a 38-31 advantage at the 17:34 marker.
The away team took a double-digit lead at 46-36 following a layup with 12:27 remaining in the second half. Wendling responded with a three-point play, but the Oilers pushed the lead back up to 10 with a three-pointer on their next possession.
The Cardinals cut the Oiler lead down to four points at 51-47 following Carriere's third triple at the 10:19 marker.
Alexander knocked down her second three-pointer of the contest to knot the score at 54-54 with just under six minutes to play. Findlay used a layup and free throw to go back on top 57-54, but Carriere struck again from behind the arc once again to tie the score at 57-57 with 3:40 showing on the clock.
Green dialed-in from long distance on the next Cardinal possession to put the home team up for good at 60-57 with 2:16 remaining. The Lady Cardinals made good on 6-of-8 from the charity stripe in the final minute to ice the game and close out the six point victory.
SVSU finished the game shooting 46 percent (23-for-50) from the field, including 47.4 percent (9-for-19) behind the arc. The Cardinals outscored Findlay by a 28-26 margin in the paint and 14-4 on second chance points.
Wendling recorded her sixth double-double of the season in the contest, scoring 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting and hauling in 13 boards. The sophomore was named the Meijer "Player of the Game" for the second consecutive contest.
Carriere scored a game-high 16 points, going 4-of-8 from behind the arc. Zirzow was 5-of-7 from the floor and finished with 14 points and 6 rebounds. Alexander chipped-in with 13 points, six rebounds and four assists while Green had 10 points, three rebounds and four assists.
Saginaw Valley (6-7, 1-6 GLIAC) returns to the court on Saturday (Jan. 10) evening against the nationally eighth-ranked Wayne State University Warriors (10-1, 6-1 GLIAC). Tip-off is scheduled for 5:00 pm at SVSU's O'Neill Arena. The Cardinals and Warriors split the season series last year with each team winning on the road, with the Lady Cards posting an 85-78 road victory over the nationally-ranked Warriors.
