Cardinals Yield Record Point Total

BIG RAPIDS – Two things continue to remain the same for the Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team. Turnovers continue to lead to mounting losses and senior Jill Herbig (Hamilton) continues to be the bright spot.
     Herbig posted a career scoring high for the second straight game, finishing with a game-high 33 points Saturday, but her Cardinals dropped their fifth straight game, 110-73 at Ferris State University.
     "We struggled again to take care of the ball," said second-year coach Lori Flaherty, whose team coughed up 19 turnovers in the first half.
     The hosts hammered away at the Cardinals early and often, building a 40-14 lead before settling for a 59-34 halftime lead. FSU committed only eight turnovers in the first half, then poured on the points in the second period to come up two points short of the school's scoring record.
     The point total was the second highest ever allowed by SVSU, one shy of the 111 scored by Northern Michigan in 1993. But the 59 first-half points matched the total scored by NMU in that game as the most aginast SVSU in a period. The Cardinals have allowed triple digits only three times, while FSU has scored over 100 only twice in its history.
     "It's tough to win when you're giving up 23 offensive rebounds," said Flaherty, whose squad was out-rebounded 50-33.
     All 12 Bulldogs played at least 13 minutes and seven managed to score double figures, led by Dawn Baker with 16 points and 9 rebounds.
     Herbig, who has led SVSU in scoring 13 straight times, also cleared a team-high eight rebounds and had four steals, three assists and one blocked shot. Freshman Erin Johnson (Saginaw/Heritage) had her third collegiate double-figure scoring game with 14 points and sophomore Jenny White (Oxford) chipped in 12 points.
     The Lady Cardinals will have a tough time trying to avoid another dubious distinction next week at nationally-ranked Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan. The school record for consecutive losses is six, set in 1988-89.
     SVSU dropped to 8-12 overall and 4-9 in the GLIAC North Division, while FSU improved to 14-5 overall and 10-3 in the North.

###