Cards come up short against Lakers in back-and-forth battle

by Anthony Fontana
Vanguard Staff Writer

January 28, 2008 —

In a contest featuring the two lowest scoring offenses and two of the top performing defenses in the GLIAC, a low scoring game was predictable. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they found themselves on the lower end of another close game.

In what turned out to be a seesaw battle featuring six lead changes, Grand Valley State University (13-6, 8-2 GLIAC) escaped O'Neill Arena with a 58-53 victory.

The Cardinals trailed 29-28 at the half. Each team struggled to get on the scoreboard to start the second frame, with the first bucket not coming until two and a half minutes in when GVSU finally broke things open.

The teams continued to trade baskets for much of the half before the Cardinals took a 38-33 lead off a steal by senior forward LaTille Ross leading to a put back by sophomore forward Kelsey Mausolf.

Down late in the game, head coach Vonnie Killmer kept the Cardinals in a zone defense, which forced the Lakers to commit 25 turnovers.

"The game plan was to play zone when we made a shot, but on a miss we were switching back to man," Killmer said.

The Lakers managed to take a 10 point lead with a little over six minutes remaining, though, the Cardinals fought their way back, trimming the Lakers' lead down to one with 12 seconds left. However, that was as close as the Cardinals would get as the Lakers closed the game hitting their last four free throws.

Junior and senior guards Tricia Everett and Kara Kinzer shared scoring honors for the Cardinals, each putting up 15 points.

Despite the close loss, the Cards said they wouldn't count a moral victory.

"It's frustrating to come out here and play against a team that we feel like we're better than," senior guard Brittany Burns said. "We just don't have the recipe to go out and win games right now."

The Lakers dominated the offensive glass, grabbing 16 offensive rebounds, while the Cardinals managed 7.

"That was the game right there," Killmer said of the rebounding difference.

Killmer pointed out an even more perplexing stat, Despite getting out done on the offensive boards, the Cardinals managed nine second chance points to Grand Valley's six.

Additionally, the Cardinals managed 31 points of turnovers to Grand Valley's 14, and out did the Lakers in the paint, scoring 24 points to Grand Valley's 21.

Kinzer made a season high five three pointers in the loss. Her timely jumpers kept the Cardinals on pace with the Lakers for the entire game. She attributed Grand Valley's zone to the game slipping away in the final moments.

"They were playing a match up zone on us which made it difficult to get open."

Killmmer said her team's short bench has been working against them late in games all season. On Saturday, they used a six-player rotation, while the Lakers moved eight players in and out of the game. The result was Grand Valley out doing the Cardinals bench, score nine bench points to the Cards' four.

"Our problem right now is we're just not as deep as some of the teams we play against," Killmer said. "That's where more kids on a bench helps. There was just a point in the second half where there was a lack of focus, mainly because the kids were tired."

The loss drops the Cardinals record to 8-11, 1-9 GLIAC.

The Cardinals will look to get back on the winning track when they travel Erie, Pennsylvania to face off against Gannon on Thursday and Mercyhurst on Saturday.

"We're tired of all the close losses," Killmer said. "I just want to get a win."

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