The Davenport women's hockey team opened the 2024-25 season with a pair of games against Lawrence Tech University, who plays in ACHA Division II. The Panthers and Blue Devils skated to a 3-3 tie on Saturday in Farmington Hills and then the Panthers fell 4-2 on Sunday at Patterson Ice Center in Grand Rapids.
Gabby Basha scored three goals on the weekend including a pair of goals in the season opener. She opened the scoring at 4:20 of the first period with assists from Ali Hanlon and
Amy Zamm. The Blue Devils would then score the next three goals including Jordyn Bebus netting her fifth goal of the season at 5:57 of the first period. Alexis Zielinski scored her third of the season at 12:51 of the opening period for a 2-1 lead at the first intermission.
Kalina Pernod scored on the power play for LTU at the 2:04 mark of the second period for the two-goal advantage. Davenport came roaring back as Basha notched her second goal of the night on the power play this time at 3:51 of the second period from
Abi Courtney and
Ainsley Skinner. Trailing 3-2 heading into the third period, DU got the equalizer at 5:23 as
Kaylen Clark was assisted by Courtney and
Sienna Harris. The five-minute overtime period did not decide a winner as the teams tied 3-3.
Dayna Templeton was magnificent in goal for the Panthers with 58 saves, while Rachel Hart stopped 34 shots for the Blue Devils.
Lawrence Tech picked up the win on Sunday despite much less scoring chances than the day before. Both teams finished with 29 shots on goal in the game. Neither team was able to convert on the power play with DU going 0-for-2 and LTU going 0-for-3. Basha again had the opening goal in this one at 2:19 of the opening period unassisted. Much like the first game, LTU then scored in bunches except it was four straight goals instead of three on Sunday. Sophia Buckberger scored her 11th goal of the season at 15:27 of the first period unassisted. Bebus scored with just four seconds left in the first from Buckberger for a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Pernod scored her fourth of the season at 1:25 of the second period from Zielinski for the only goal of the second stanza. Zielinski made it 4-1 at 6:17 of the third period from Buckberger. The Panthers would get one more goal at 12:43 as Skinner scored her first of the season unassisted.
Avery Hall stopped 25 shots for the Panthers in net. Hart made 27 saves for the Blue Devils.
Next up for the Panthers will be a road series on Oct. 18-19 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
