Mallory McCartney became Ferris’ all-time career assists leader and Solomon Oraegbu recorded another 30-point performance in wins for both the men’s and women’s teams over Davenport.
In the women’s 72-54 victory, McCartney recorded six assists, good for 504 for her career at the time of the game. That passed Carrie Roys’ mark of 503 for the most in Ferris women’s basketball history.
“My goal coming in was to try to take that title,” McCartney said. “It means nothing without my teammates. My teammates make me look good.”
On the men’s side, the Bulldogs beat Davenport 90-75. Oraegbu contributed 32 points in his second straight game over the 30-point mark.
Both teams then lost to Grand Valley in the regular season finale on Saturday, with the women falling 72-55 and the men losing 90-84.
The men earned the second seed in the GLIAC tournament and will play Purdue-Northwest in Big Rapids for the first round of the GLIAC tournament on March 1.
The women earned the sixth seed in the GLIAC tournament and play at Wisconsin-Parkside on March 1.
On the women’s side, Chloe Idoni had 23 points in the victory over Davenport. Elle Irwin had 15 points and Kenzie Bowers contributed 13. She recorded a double-double with 11 rebounds.
The game was tied at 29 going into halftime, but head coach Kurt Westendorp was not unhappy with his team’s performance.
“We didn’t feel like we really played that poorly in the first half,” Westendorp said. “I felt like the ball moved alright, we just shot the ball pretty poor.”
In the Grand Valley loss, Idoni was held to just 12 points. McCartney had 15 points and added four more assists.
Grand Valley outrebounded Ferris 41-26 and shot 47% from the floor compared to 35% for Ferris.
“I felt like our kids played with passion,” Westendorp said. “Grand Valley just played better.”
On the men’s side, Ben Davidson added 17 points in the victory over Davenport to go with Oraegbu’s 32.
Ferris held the Panthers to 35% shooting and shot 50% themselves.
“We made a lot of nice plays,” head coach Andy Bronkema said. “They go back and forth between man-to-man and zone and that can hurt your rhythm, but I thought we did a good job recognizing it.”
In their loss to Grand Valley, the men’s team got 23 points off the bench from Ethan Erickson, who made four three-pointers and was a perfect 9-9 from the free throw line. Oraegbu had 16 points, Dolapo Olayinka had 14 and Davidson also had 14.
“They played harder than us for [the] majority of the game,” Bronkema said. “They were ready and prepared. We got some great experience today.”
The Lakers started the game on a 15-0 run. The Bulldogs cut the lead to six, but Grand Valley pushed their lead to 54-37 at halftime.
Ferris brought the energy to start the second half and got the lead down to five. However, the Lakers held their lead and claimed victory.
Both Bulldog teams play on Wednesday, March 1, in the GLIAC tournament. The men play in Big Rapids at 7 p.m. against Purdue-Northwest, and the women play at Wisconsin-Parkside at 6:30 p.m.