UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team fell to the visitin Ashland University Eagles by a score of 79-60 on Thursday night (1/20).
Ashland jumped out to a three point lead off a three-pointer by Jena Stutzman at the 19:11 mark, but SVSU quickly bounced-back to score the next nine points to make the score 9-3 after a triple by freshman Kristen Greene (Brown City, Mich.) at the 17:15 mark.
The Eagles would re-gain the lead and extend it to as much at 10 point, when they led by a score of 30-20 with 6:37 remaining in the half. Back-to-back layups by senior Brittany Burkhardt (West Bloomfield, Mich./Walled Lake Central HS) and sophomore Aysha Boston (Detroit, Mich./Renaissance HS) cut the Eagle lead to six at 30-24 with 6:02 left.
The teams would exchange buckets the rest of the half, but a layup by sophomore Cheritee Green (Wyoming Park, Mich.) with 44 seconds left in the half cut the Ashland lead to one point, which is where the score would remain going into halftime, 36-35.
Greene led the offensive attack for the Cardinals in the opening half, scoring 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the floor. Boston added six points while Cheritee Green had five points while leading all rebounders with seven in the first half.
Ashland would retain the lead and extend it to six at the 14:10 mark, leading 46-40. The Cardinals would briefly take the lead with 11:20 remaining after Green made her second layup in a row, making the score 51-50 in SVSU's favor. The Eagles re-gained the lead and would extend it to as much as 21 points at the 1:45 mark when the score was 77-56. The Eagles would close-out with the 19-point victory, 79-60.
Cheritee Green was named the Meijer "Player of the Game" after posting 13 points and nine rebounds, narrowly missing out on a double-double. Kristen Greene finished with 11 points while Boston finished with nine points.
The loss drops the Lady Cardinals to 4-11 overall on the season and 2-7 in GLIAC play while Ashland improves to 10-5 overall and 5-3 in league play. SVSU is back in action on Saturday (1/22) against Lake Erie College at 3:00 pm. The game follows SVSU's final Community Youth Day of the 2010-11 season, which is a free soccer clinic, which runs from 11:30-12:30, with registration beginning at 10:45 am.
