GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The calendar flips over to February and the women's basketball team starts it off with a huge challenge against sixth-ranked Grand Valley State on Saturday at 1:00 PM. The Panthers are trying to claw their way into the top eight in the GLIAC standings with hopes of making the postseason tournament. The team has seven regular season games remaining with five of those at home.

The Lakers are coming to the Student Center with 19 wins overall and 10 in the GLIAC. They are in first place one half game ahead of Michigan Tech with seven regular season games remaining. The Lakers will play three more road games and four at home including Saturday's contest against the Panthers. Davenport has not been able to solve GVSU with a win against them still to happen. The two teams were involved in a GLIAC game back on Dec. 11 with the Lakers winning 92-47 on their home court. It was the largest margin of defeat this season for DU, but it did come against the top-ranked team in GVSU at the time who improved to 9-0 overall and 3-0 in the GLIAC.

The Lakers came out strong and led 24-6 at the end of the first quarter. GVSU scored the first 10 points of the game and did not look back. Makenna Bryant broke the run with a jumper at the 5:10 mark. Bryant also hit a three-pointer at the 1:14 mark to score five of the team's six points in the opening quarter. The Lakers would go on to score the most points allowed by the Panthers this season. Mary Liedel led the team with 12 points including 5-of-8 from the floor. Lillee Gustafson and Bryant each added 10 points. Gustafson also led the team with seven rebounds. The Lakers had 12 players play at least 10 minutes in the contest and no one played more than 20 minutes. Four players were in double figures led by 17 points from Hannah Kulas who went 5-of-6 behind the arc. Hadley Miller, Ellie Droste, and Molly Anderson each scored 10 points. GVSU shot 14-of-23 from the arc which is the second-best percentage against the Panthers this season.

Head coach Mike Williams returns to the arena where he established the Panthers as one of the top programs in the NAIA during his tenure at Davenport. In four seasons on the bench, he compiled a record of 130-11 including four straight WHAC regular season and tournament titles. He also guided the squad to the NAIA National Tournament each year with a runner-up finish in the 2012-13 season.

● Parkside 81, Davenport 68 (Jan. 26)

Freshman Alexa Kolnitys had a breakout game on Thursday night with a career-high 23 points in an 81-68 loss to Parkside. Kolnitys connected on 6-of-9 from behind the arc and also tied a career high with five rebounds and had one steal and one blocked shot. She scored 10 points in the first half and added 13 more after the break.

The Rangers came out scorching hot in the first quarter scoring 29 points which included 10-of-17 from the floor including 7-of-8 from behind the arc. Sheridan Flauger scored 11 points in the quarter and went 3-of-3 from the arc.

After trailing 50-31 at halftime, the Panthers were able to make a run in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 66-57 with 5:50 remaining in the game. Scout Nelson got a steal in the backcourt and DU had a chance with a three-pointer in the corner to make it a six-point game. The Rangers dodged the bullet and put an end to DU's 8-0 run as Alyssa Nelson buried a three-pointer to stretch the lead back to 69-57.

Nelson led all scorers for the Rangers with 31 points, the most by an opposing player this season against DU. She finished 11-of-18 from the field including 7-of-9 from the arc. Joining Kolnitys for the Panthers in double figures was Lillee Gustafson with 16 points and she also got her ninth double-double of the season and 11th of her career with 14 rebounds. Gustafson also set a career high with five assists and had one steal and one blocked shot.

● Purdue Northwest 66, Davenport 53 (Jan. 28)

Lillee Gustafson recorded her 10th double-double of the season on Saturday afternoon as the Panthers fell 66-53 to Purdue Northwest in GLIAC action. She became just the 19th player in Division II and second in the GLIAC to record 10 or more double-doubles this season. Gustafson played all 40 minutes for the first time this season and went 8-of-18 from the floor and 7-of-9 at the free throw line. She grabbed 12 rebounds (four offensive) and also had a season-high three steals and two blocked shots.

Scout Nelson and Alexa Kolnitys also played all 40 minutes in the backcourt for the Panthers. Nelson had eight points, seven rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots. Kolnitys scored five points and also had a season-high six assists and two steals.

The Panthers best shooting quarter was in the second going 6-of-14 (42.9) and found themselves trailing by just three (29-26) heading into halftime. The Pride were able to outscore the Panthers by a 37-27 edge in the second half to pull away.

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Saturday, Feb. 4 vs Grand Valley State (1:00 PM) - Live Video (FloSports) - Live Stats