GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Lake Superior State (LSSU) women's basketball team (2-22, 1-14 GLIAC) closed out a 57-53 victory over the Davenport Panthers (3-22, 1-14 GLIAC) behind a career-high 21 rebounds from Grace Bradford (Maple City, Mich.) on Thursday.
Brittany Bowman (Kingsley, Mich.) opened up the scoring with a three. The Panthers responded with an 8-0 run, but back-to-back buckets from Amanda Roach (Hartland, Mich.) cut the lead back down to one, and Gracey Metz (Hartland, Mich.) found Breah Golden (Arcadia, Wis.) for three to tie up the score at 10-10 after the first ten minutes of action.
Bradford would then get involved on offense to open up the second quarter with five of the next seven Laker points, including a three to put her team up 17-14, but both teams would go back and forth at the free throw line as the Panthers held onto a one point advantage going into the halftime break.
The Lakers opened up the second half in force with a 7-0 scoring spurt behind a pair of baskets from Metz inside and a three from CeCe Hacker (Omaha, Neb.), but the Panthers fought back with a 14-2 run of their own to take a 6-point lead, their largest of the night. The Lakers were able to cut the lead in half by the end of the third quarter, but they would still find themselves trailing by a single possession going into the fourth.
Davenport was able to push their lead back out to five to open up the fourth quarter, but the Lakers dug in, determined to come away with the win. They responded by outscoring the Panthers 17-4 over the next five minutes of playing time, and despite a pair of late Davenport threes to make the game close, Hacker was able to close out the game at the free throw line to secure the win.
Roach led all players in scoring with a career-high 19 points, and Bradford was close behind with 18 points of her own while also securing a career-high 21 rebounds for the double double, eclipsing 500 total rebounds for her career.
The Lakers return to action when they travel to take on the Grand Valley State Lakers on Saturday, Feb. 24 with tipoff scheduled for 1 p.m.