The Ferris State women’s basketball team advances to the DII NCAA tournament Elite 8 with a win over Grand Valley State on Monday, March 18.
In the DII NCAA tournament, the No. 3 seeded Bulldogs (25-5, 15-3 in the GLIAC) took down the No.1 seeded Lakers (31-3, 17-1 in the GLIAC) by a score of 49-46.
This win moves Ferris onto the Elite Eight for the first time in program history.
The Bulldogs held Grand Valley to their lowest point total of the entire season as GVSU was held to 46 points on 30.2% from the field and 24% from three.
Ferris tallied a total of 10 steals as senior guard Mallory McCartney and junior guard Kenzie Bowers led the way with three steals each.
Head coach Kurt Westendorp raved about the defense.
“Our girls are tenacious,” Westendorp said. “Grand Valley is probably bigger, faster and stronger than us but our girls played their angles really well and forced them into tough shots.”
Ferris started out hot and went into halftime up 25-21.
The Bulldogs led by as many as 11 in the third quarter.
Grand Valley attempted to make a run late in the third quarter but Ferris did not waver.
“Our team has so much maturity, we knew they were going to go on a run but we had answers for most of it.” Westendorp said. “We did just enough to where we could keep a lead the whole way through”
Sophomore center Mya Hiram was great for the Bulldogs, as she led the team in scoring with 13 points off the bench, junior forward Kadyn Blanchard was also in double-digits with 10 points.
Ferris is unsure who their next opponent will be. Winners from each of the eight regions of the NCAA tournament will be re-seeded beginning on Tuesday, March 19.
The Bulldogs’ Elite Eight game will be held Monday, March 25.