Grand Valley State women's basketball loses, 77-53, in Division II NCAA tournament semi

The state of Michigan’s dreams of a three-for-all run in the Division I, II and II NCAA women’s basketball tournaments hit, like so many drivers in the state, a pothole on Wednesday night, albeit in Birmingham, Alabama.

With Division III Hope winning the title last week, and Division I Michigan in the Sweet 16 this weekend, it fell to Division II Grand Valley State to keep driving. Unfortunately for the Lakers, they bottomed out in the fourth quarter, as Glenville State, from West Virginia, won the national semifinal, 77-53.

The Pioneers took control of Wednesday’s game with a 25-8 run over 9:01 in the third and fourth quarters. Ellie Droste led the Lakers with 14 points on 7-for-17 shooting, and Emily Spitzley added 12 points. Re’Shawna Stone led the Pioneers with 19 points while Dazha Congleton posted a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

GVSU was solid inside the arc, making 21 of their 44 2-point attempts (44.7%), but the Lakers went ice-cold from long range, with one 3-pointer in 13 tries (7.7%).

The Lakers’ long-range agony began slowly in the first quarter: They missed both of their 3-pointers in the opening period but went 5-for-9 inside the arc, including two makes on five attempts by Droste, en route to a 14-12 deficit. The guard from Westphalia led GVSU with four points in the opening period, nearly a third of her season average of 12.2 points.

When Glenville State’s Zakiyah Winfield hit a jumper to make it 27-24 with 2:25 remaining in the first half, it looked like the Pioneers would cruise into half time with a slim lead. But the Lakers got hot to finish the half. Spitzley hit one of two free throws, followed by a pair of misses by Glenville State. Droste then hit a 2 to tie it up and, following a turnover by Vendela Danielsson, snuck in a layup with four seconds left in the half to give the Lakers the lead, 29-27.

GVSU held the lead for the first three minutes of the third quarter, but the Pioneers grabbed it back with a basket by Skylar Davidson with 6:49 left in the period. Glenville State built its lead to six points as GVSU went scoreless for 2:40 before a pair of free throws from Hannah Kulas and a layup by Droste made it a two-point game with just under four minutes remaining. But the Pioneers finished the quarter on a 7-1 run for an eight-point lead going into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth, however, it was all Glenville State, as few of GVSUs shots fell, leading to an 18-7 run to open the quarter. From there, the rout was on; the Pioneers finished the quarter with 28 points, for a 50-24 edge in the second half.

Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @theford.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Division II NCAA women's basketball tournament: GVSU loses, 77-53