GVSU women's hoops grinds to victory in DII semis, will play for national title
The Lakers will play for it all.
The Grand Valley State women's basketball team held off a relentless effort from Pittsburg State and pulled away for a 68-61 win in the Division II national semifinals on Wednesday night at PMC Cooper Fieldhouse in Pittsburgh.
Grand Valley State (37-2) will play for the national championship at 7 p.m. Friday against Cal State Dominguez Hills, a 68-50 winner over Union (Tenn.) in the early semifinal Wednesday.
The Lakers are looking for their second national championship in women's basketball, and first since 2006. Cal State Dominguez Hills (36-1) will be playing for its first national championship.
Grand Valley State seized command against Pittsburg State (Kansas) in the opening quarter, and led 35-24 at halftime. But Pittsburg State came storming back in the third quarter and actually took the lead for the first time in the game with 4 minutes, 25 seconds left in the quarter. Lakers senior guard Rylie Bisballe made a fadeaway jumper with 2 seconds remaining in the quarter to tie the game at 46.
Grand Valley State took over from there, scoring the first eight points of the fourth quarter (and 10 straight points going back to the bucket to end the third) to keep Pittsburg State at bay.
Pittsburg State made one last push and cut the deficit to 60-58 with 2:29 left. Lakers redshirt junior forward Nicole Kamin responded with a layup to push the lead back to 62-58.
Then, Pittsburg State's Maycee James drove to the basket and made a layup with 1:07 left, and there was a whistle ― it wasn't an and-one; it was called a charge, and that was James' fifth foul.
Grand Valley State went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line to close it out, and the Lakers celebrated on the court afterward, with Kamin placing Grand Valley State's name on the championship-game line of the Division II bracket.
Kamin had a monster game, finishing with 21 points, seven steals, seven rebounds, four assists and a block. Bisballe finished with 17 points, and redshirt junior guard Paige Vanstee had 11 points. Freshman guard MacKenzie Bisballe, Rylie's sister, had eight points, two blocks, two steals and six rebounds.
For Pittsburg State (33-4), Grace Pyle had 25 points and Karenna Gerber had 13 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.
Grand Valley State's defense, including a full-court press at times and almost always a double-team in the paint, forced Pittsburg State into 20 turnovers.
Grand Valley State is the only school from Michigan to win a Division II national championship in women's basketball.
The Lakers are on a 12-game winning streak, and Wednesday's game was their closest margin of victory in that span.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: GVSU women's hoops grinds to victory in DII semis, will play for national title
