Ferris State Earns League Road Triumph At Lake Superior State

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University women's basketball team played shorthanded on Saturday (Feb. 18), but pulled out a tight 75-67 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) road win over Lake Superior State in afternoon action at Bud Cooper Gymnasium in Sault Ste. Marie.

The Bulldogs lost junior DeShonna Day to injury in the opening half and freshman Mia Riley did not play due to illness in the contest. However, Ferris State outscored LSSU 19-10 in the final period to garner the win.

Lake Superior State got off to a quick start and led by six points after the opening period before pushing the lead to 10 points with 6:51 to go in the first half. The Bulldogs finished the first half strong, though, rallying to grab a 35-33 halftime edge thanks in large part to a 22-14 advantage in second period scoring.

In the second half, the Lakers took the lead into the final period after outscoring FSU 24-21 in the third, but the Bulldogs took control early in the fourth and held on down the stretch for the league road decision.

Senior Chloe Idoni paced FSU with a game-high 25 points in the win while adding a team-leading nine rebounds. The trio of freshmen Elle Irwin and sophomore Kenzie Bowers along with Grace Sullivan all totaled 13 points apiece with senior guard Mallory McCartney adding nine points, seven assists and four steals in the win.

McCartney played all 40 minutes for Ferris State with Bowers playing 39 minutes and Irwin more than 37 minutes due to the shortened bench. Idoni was on the floor for more than 35 minutes and Sullivan played nearly 35 minutes as well as the five accounted for the bulk of the second half playing time. Overall, FSU played only seven in the contest with Day totaling nine minutes and Amaka Unobagha four plus minutes off the bench.

Ferris State finished shooting at a 44.3% clip overall and the Bulldogs made eight-of-36 (22.2%) three's along with 13-of-18 (72.2%) free throws. The Lakers converted 45.3% of their field goals and sank six-of-17 (35.3%) long range tries in addition to a 13-of-16 (81.3%) showing at the free throw stripe.

LSSU was paced by Mattison Rayman with 18 points and Margot Woughter with 16 points in the setback.

With the win, the Bulldogs improved to 15-10 overall this season.

The Bulldogs will visit Davenport on Thursday (Feb. 23) night and rival Grand Valley State on Saturday (Feb. 25) afternoon to close out league regular-season play.