Bulldog women’s basketball pushed their win streak to five games with a blowout victory over the Davenport Panthers on Thursday, Jan. 18 and a pivotal win over the No. 1 ranked Grand Valley State Lakers on Saturday, Jan. 20.
The Bulldogs (12-2, 6-1 in GLIAC) collected their second 40+ point margin of victory this season with a 92-52 trouncing of the Panthers (3-13, 1-5 in GLIAC).
With the match against their rival looming, head coach Kurt Westendorp wanted the team to focus on what was at hand, rather than what would come next.
“We talked about trying to win every moment,” Westendorp said. “‘Moment’ is our keyword that we’re talking about this year. In the locker room, we talked about ‘how many possessions are there gonna be? How many moments are gonna be in those possessions?’ Times [that by] five players on the court. You gotta try to win each of those. That’s what makes good teams good.”
After a tight first quarter, the Bulldogs came out leading 15-12. Ferris accelerated their offense, scoring 30 second-quarter points while holding Davenport to nine. Junior guard Kadyn Blanchard came out of the first half of play with 21 total points. The Bulldogs ran away with the lead, putting up 28 points in the third and 19 in the fourth. Blanchard continued her scoring in the second half, as she added 10 more points for a total of 31 in the game. Davenport’s offense could neither match nor surpass Ferris’ in any instance of the game, which led to them being outscored in every quarter.
According to Westendorp, winning the turnover battle was an important measure of the Bulldogs’ win on Thursday.
“We forced 27 turnovers in the game,” Westendorp said. “That was a big key for us, trying to speed them up a little bit. We did a great job of not letting the ball go inside. Their post players are really effective and we fronted them well. It led to some easy offensive opportunities in transition.”
The Bulldogs were able to capitalize off of Panther mistakes, as Davenport had the ball stolen 25 times in the contest. Senior guard Mallory McCartney and sophomore Mya Hiram led the team in steals with five each.
Ferris State continued its weekend homestay with a much closer win over its arch-rival with a 71-65 victory over the top-seeded and top-ranked Grand Valley State Lakers (15-2, 6-1 in GLIAC).
Blanchard and McCartney picked up where they left off from Thursday’s game, combining for nearly 50 points and nine total assists.
The Freeland Mich. native Blanchard believes that anyone can step into the number one option role.
“I do not think there is any pressure at all,” Blanchard said. “Anyone on our team can go off at any time. It all depends on who gets open shots that night”
Blanchard led the team in scoring with 26 points against Grand Valley.
McCartney, who was right behind Blanchard in scoring, found her rhythm in the second period. Entering the second half, she showed no signs of slowing down, as she scored 13 points in the half. McCartney knew it was gonna be a good shooting night when her first shot went in.
“I knew it felt good because it was a bank,” McCartney said. “If I can hit the first shot I knew it was gonna be a fun night.”
The Bulldogs will meet Grand Valley one more time during the regular season in late February in Allendale.
Westendorp is already thinking about the next contest between the two top GLIAC programs and is excited to have another coaching battle between himself and Grand Valley head coach Mike Williams.
“As coaches, we are really gonna enjoy this,” Westendorp said. “It’s the first game of two, maybe three or four games we meet this season. It’s gonna be a little bit of a chess match between now and hopefully later during the NCAA Tournament time. We will just have to keep getting better and better as it goes… It’s a great day to be a Bulldog.”
Ferris State will ride this five-game win streak on the road into a match with No. 5 ranked Wayne State on Thursday, Jan. 25 and another contest on the road against the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals on Saturday, Jan. 27. The Bulldogs will return home to the Jim Wink Arena on Thursday, Feb. 1 to face the Northern Michigan Wildcats at 5:30 p.m. and then play the Michigan Tech Huskies on Saturday, Feb. 3 at 1 p.m.