Wayne State 78, Davenport 58 (Dec. 5)
The Davenport women’s basketball team gave up 52 points in the paint on Thursday night as they dropped their GLIAC opener, 78-58, at Wayne State. The Warriors were cold from behind the arc going 2-of-12, but had a great deal of success inside and took full advantage of it. Lexi Boyke, Shea Tripp, and Taylor Thompson in the frontcourt each scored in double figures for the Warriors. Thompson used her speed and agility to get easy buckets as she finished with a game-high 17 points and earned a double-double with 10 rebounds.
Davenport came out strong and made their first four field goals to build a 9-6 lead just two minutes into the game. DU was up 11-10 at the 4:42 mark before the Warriors went on a 9-1 run over the next two-plus minutes. The Panthers trailed 23-13 after the first quarter as the Warriors shot 9-of-17 from the floor and 5-of-5 at the free throw line.
Davenport played a tough second quarter and found themselves in a tight contest by halftime. They outscored Wayne State 17-9 in the quarter and cut the deficit to just two at the break after a Jada McCree triple with 1:09 left. Davenport held the Warriors scoreless over the final 3:12 of the quarter. The Warriors shot 3-of-15 from the floor in the quarter and committed six turnovers.
Wayne State scored 30 of their 52 points in the paint in the second half to pull away. WSU outscored DU 24-13 in the third quarter and 22-15 in the fourth quarter. The Panthers trailed by eight points at 58-50 with 7:10 left in the contest, but the Warriors finished the game on a 20-8 run. DU got a team-high 14 points by Ellie Toney off the bench in 31 minutes. Lillee Gustafson and Isabel Lindo were also in double figures with 10 points. Gustafson led the team with seven rebounds, three assists, and two blocked shots. DU finished shooting 39.6 percent from the floor for the game and went 11-of-16 at the charity stripe.
Davenport 61, Saginaw Valley State 59 (Dec. 7)
Ellie Toney reached the 20-point plateau for the second time in her last three games and Davenport ended an 11-game skid against Saginaw Valley State with a 61-59 road win over the Cardinals on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 7). DU also was able to end a seven-game road GLIAC losing streak and even their conference record at 1-1.
Toney scored 20 points off the bench and led the team in scoring for the third straight game. She connected on 7-of-15 from the floor and also made all four of her free throws. Toney led the team with eight rebounds and also had two assists and two steals. Nevaeh Williams was the other Panther in double figures with 10 points and also led the team with four steals and three assists.
The contest was hotly contested throughout with 13 lead changes and 12 ties. Davenport led for 22:43 while SVSU led for 10:27.
Saginaw Valley State led 6-1 at the 6:48 mark of the opening quarter, but then neither team led by more than one possession until the Panthers grabbed a 16-12 advantage at the 8:52 mark of the second quarter. Incredibly, neither team then led by more than three points until the 2:20 mark when DU grabbed their 44-38 lead after a Toney triple with an assist from Kayla Covington.
Davenport took a 45-42 lead into the fourth quarter and led until the 5:10 mark when the Cardinals tied it up at 49 after a Megan McCalla three ball. DU got a big basket from Lillee Gustafson with 1:53 left to give the Panthers a 55-51 lead and they held on for the victory. The Davenport bench including 20 points from Toney outscored the Cardinal bench 28-2. Davenport finished shooting 39.1 percent from the floor and 79.2 percent at the free throw line.
