BIG RAPIDS, Mich. – The Davenport women's basketball team was looking to get back to the .500 mark in the GLIAC on Saturday at Ferris State. The Panthers found themselves down 41-31 at halftime, but outscored the Bulldogs in the second half in an 83-77 loss. Davenport had an excellent day at the free throw line going 23-of-28. They set a season-high for made free throws and free throw percentage (.821).
Amanda Merz set a career-high with 11-of-12 at the line and finished with a career-high 22 points.
Davenport had a lead for the first 3:29 of the opening quarter after scoring the first four points.
Courtney McInerney made a three-pointer and
Jenna Falkenberg made a layup to give DU an 11-7 lead with 5:37 left in the quarter. The Bulldogs went on a 7-0 run later in the quarter to take an 18-14 lead and closed out the quarter with a 22-16 advantage.
Ferris State increased their lead to double figures at 36-25 with 5:29 left in the second quarter.
Martyna Pioro scored a bucket with 1:33 left until halftime and that would conclude the scoring in the first half with DU down 41-31. Ferris State had 12 bench points in the quarter.
The lead was as much as 14 points for Ferris State in the third quarter but Davenport closed the gap to 60-51 after three quarters. The Panthers kept chipping away and eventually trimmed the deficit to 70-67 with 3:08 in the game after
Haley Gibbons hit a jumper. Ferris State scored the next four points however to lead 74-67 at the 1:34 mark. Merz scored a layup with 33 seconds left to make it 77-73 and then Alexis Bush made six straight free throws down the stretch to secure the win for Ferris State.
Davenport shot 39.7 percent for the game while Ferris State shot 50.8 percent from the floor including 10-of-16 in the first quarter and 7-of-13 in the second quarter. Falkenberg had her fifth double-double of the season with 17 points and a season-high 17 rebounds. She went 8-of-12 from the floor and also had three blocked shots in 38 minutes. Merz was one assist shy of her career-high with eight and also had four rebounds. Pioro chipped in nine points, four assists and two steals in 24 minutes.