BIG RAPIDS, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team traveled to Ferris State University Saturday afternoon faced with a simple scenario that would define its postseason chances. If the Lady Cardinals defeated the Bulldogs, they would seal a berth in the 2014 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament and the tourney's #6 overall seed. If SVSU lost the game, it would fall short of qualifying for postseason play.
With everything on the line and an opportunity to extend the 2013-14 season at hand, Saginaw Valley came through with a huge 82-71 comeback overtime victory over Ferris, securing its second straight appearance in the annual postseason tourney.
It's the first time since the 1997-98 and 98-99 seasons that SV has qualified for the GLIAC Tournament in consecutive years.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a quick lead in Saturday's contest, scoring the game's first eight points.
Senior guard Kristen Greene got the Cards on the board with a three-pointer and a layup from fellow senior Kayla Womack would make the score 8-5 with 16:43 left in the first half.
FSU would answer with a 7-0 run to push the lead to double-digits at 15-5 with just over 15 minutes left. After an Alex Green layup for the Lady Cards, Ferris would score nine points in a row to open up its largest lead of the game at 24-7 at the 10:39 marker.
A Katelyn Carriere layup with 3:59 left in the half would bring the lead back below double-figures, cutting the deficit to nine points (30-21). A pair of Greene jumpers and two free throws from Carriere would follow and cap-off a 12-2 SVSU run to send the visitors into halftime trailing by only five points at 32-27.
Saginaw struggled shooting in the opening 20 minutes, shooting just 31.0% (9-29) from the floor and 1-of-10 from three. Ferris shot 43.3% (13-30) in the opening period. The Bulldogs posted a 24-15 edge on the glass as well for the first half.
A triple by Carriere at the 18:07 mark of the second half cut the Bulldog lead to 36-34 and brought the Cards to within two points for the first time since the game's score was 2-0. SVSU would have to overcome an eventual eight point lead (44-36) by Ferris and take its first lead of the contest with a Greene layup that gave the visitors a 56-55 advantage with 6:30 left to play in the game.
A stretch that featured five ties and five lead changes would ensue, making for an exciting finish to regulation at FSU's Wink Arena.
FSU re-gained the lead with a pair of freebies, but a triple from Danielle Carriere flipped the advantage back in SV's favor at 59-57 with just over five minutes to play.
After another two Bulldog free throws, Greene drained a jumper to take a 61-59 lead for SV with 3:01 left to play.
A Ferris layup and free throw gave the home team a 62-61 lead, but Greene's second triple of the game made the score 64-62 at the 1:13 mark.
Greene would foul FSU's Sarah DeShone with 10 seconds to play and with the Bulldogs in the double-bonus, DeShone made both freebies to give her team a 66-64 lead.
After a Ferris timeout, the Cards would get off one last shot and Greene made good on a jumper to knot the score at 66-66, sending the game into overtime.
SVSU used field goals from Samantha Zirzow, Womack and Greene to score the first six points in the extra session to take a 72-66 lead at the 2:45 mark.
Ferris would cut the deficit to 72-69, but Saginaw went a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line down the stretch as part of 10 straight points to make the score 82-69 with just eight seconds left.
A last second layup from Ferris would make the score 82-71 and that's what the final score would prove to be, as the Lady Cards finished the overtime period out-scoring their opponents 16-5 while punching their ticket to postseason play.
Greene scored a game-high 26 points for SVSU and added team-highs of eight rebounds and five assists. Womack added 16 points, three boards, four assists and three steals for the Cards. The two seniors were named Co-Meijer "Players of the Game" for their efforts in their final regular season contest in an SVSU uniform. Both players played 40+ minutes in the game.
Womack switched positions and took over at the point for SVSU after Katelyn Carriere left the game with 15 minutes remaining due to sustaining an injury while taking a charge.
Junior Briana Graham added a dozen points with seven rebounds off the bench for SVSU.
With the victory, SVSU moves to 14-11 overall on the season and 12-10 in the GLIAC. It's the most wins for the program since the 2003-04 season, when the squad posted a 16-12 record. The 12 GLIAC wins is the most since the 1998-99 season (14).
The #6 seeded Lady Cardinals will travel to Houghton, Mich. for a quarterfinal matchup with the #3 Huskies on Wednesday (Mar. 5). The teams split the regular season series in 2013-14, as each team claimed victory on its own home court. SV won a 63-62 contest on Jan. 25 while MTU won a 73-63 decision on Feb. 15. Gametime for the postseason matchup will be 5:30 pm in Tech's SDC Gymnasium.