#3 GRAND VALLEY STATE 109, PARKSIDE 70
The Parkside women's basketball team had a tough opponent in its GLIAC opener on Thursday night, and the No. 3 ranked Lakers ran away with the big win over the Rangers. Parkside will face Davenport on the road Saturday afternoon in hopes of getting even in league play.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Rangers hung tough in the first couple of minutes of the ball game, but the Lakers used a 10-0 run in the first quarter to push their lead to double-digits and kept it there until Taylor Stephen connected on a 3-pointer with about 1:00 remaining to make it 23-14 at the end of the first quarter.
 
GVSU added on to the lead in the second quarter, outscoring the Rangers 21-9 to take a 44-25 lead into the break and then outscored Parkside 39-22 in the third quarter. Unfortunately the game was out of reach, but Parkside was able to go toe-to-toe with the Lakers in the fourth quarter in scoring.
 
A LOOK AT THE BOX SCORE
Sophomore Alyssa Nelson led the Rangers with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting while Stephen finished with 12 and Claire Jakaitis added 10. Parkside shot well from beyond the arc (10-of-25), but the Lakers got a huge lift in rebounding (47-21), points in the paint (66-24) and blocks (6-0).
 
The Lakers' Cassidy Boensch, who's no stranger to national awards, finished with a game-high 31 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 13-of-14 from the floor.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
Parkside will battle Davenport on Saturday, Dec. 7 at noon before returning home for two straight games, beginning with Lewis on Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 5:30 p.m.