Saginaw Valley State 78, Davenport 47 (Feb. 20)
The women’s basketball team wasn’t able to finish the season sweep against Saginaw Valley State on Thursday in a 78-47 defeat at the DU Student Center. The loss dramatically hurts their chances at qualifying for the final spot in the GLIAC Tournament. The Panthers entered the day two games back of the Cardinals with four games to play in the regular season.
The Panthers could not find their offensive rhythm from the start going 3-of-10 from the floor including 1-of-6 from behind the arc in the first quarter. The Cardinals doubled up Davenport 14-7 in the first quarter and shot 42.9 percent from the floor.
The Panthers led for just 23 seconds in the contest and there were two lead changes. Davenport led 3-2 and then never again. The Panthers were held scoreless for five minutes in the first quarter as the Cardinals went on a 6-0 run during that stretch.
In the second quarter, DU clawed back to within 19-15 at the 5:34 mark after a Jada McCree three-pointer. SVSU then would go on an 8-0 run to extend their lead to 27-15 with 3:16 left in the quarter. In the third quarter, the Cardinals were able to further extend their lead to 55-33 by shooting 50 percent (5-of-10) from the floor and were also 10-of-12 at the free throw line.
The Panthers scored fewer than 50 points for the seventh time this season and finished the game shooting 30.2 percent overall. The Cardinals had a 32-18 edge in the paint and a 17-9 edge in bench points. Isabel Lindo led Davenport with 12 points and made both of her three-pointers. Ellie Toney finished with seven points, four rebounds, four assists, and two steals.
Wayne State 76, Davenport 49 (Feb. 22)
The Davenport seniors of Lillee Gustafson, Jaci Walker, and Kendal Swartout were honored prior to Saturday’s game against Wayne State. Swartout who had been out due to injury since Nov. 17, got on the court one last time against the Warriors and scored the game’s first basket as a tribute. She is a two-time member of the GLIAC All-Academic Excellence team with a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or above. Walker played in her 103rd career game and made her 43rd career start. She too is a GLIAC All-Academic Excellence team member and was named CSC Academic All-District last season. Walker has scored 478 points in her career.
Gustafson has been named Second Team All-GLIAC over the past two seasons and also was on the GLIAC All-Defensive Team in 2022-23. She has started in 106 games, which is fourth all-time at DU. In addition, Lillee ranks second in total rebounds with 876, sixth with 86 blocked shots, and 14th in points with 1,049. She became the 16th player at DU to hit the 1,000-point mark earlier this season and holds the school record with 19 rebounds in a game against Parkside on Jan. 29, 2022.
Wayne State shot 41.2 percent overall (28-68) and finished 15-of-19 at the free throw line. Shea Tripp led all scorers with 16 points for WSU and also led her team with nine rebounds. Three players led the Panthers in scoring with eight points (Toney, Williams, Lindo). The Warriors controlled the paint outscoring DU 42-14 in the contest.
