The Ferris women’s basketball team clinched their first Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament bid for the first time since 2013 with a weekend split against Purdue University Northwest and Grand Valley State University.
The squad dominated the PUN Pride Thursday, Feb. 22 with an 83-47 victory. The women would then suffer a tough 77-64 loss against archrival GVSU Saturday, Feb. 24.
Despite the loss, the Bulldogs honored their three seniors who have given so much to the program over their time at Ferris. The team honored senior center Rachel McInerney, senior guard Leah Humes and former player and current student-assistant coach Hannah Evo.
The team finished the season 14-14 overall and 8-12 in GLIAC play. With the win against PUN, the team clinched the No. 7 seed in the GLIAC Tournament.
“We’ve been through a lot the past few years but have continued to work hard every single day and the whole time we kept telling ourselves ‘trust the process, our hard work will pay off’—and this year we have been seeing those results and it feels great,” Ferris junior forward Abby Nakfoor said.
This is a team that has done a complete 360 in comparison to last season. Last year, the team finished the season 5-22 and ranked in the bottom in almost every category in the GLIAC statistics.
“It is such a feeling of accomplishment to be able to make the playoffs for the first time in five years. We have worked so hard for this and all the work behind the scenes is finally being showcased,” Ferris junior guard Riley Blair said.
The team has proven they are a competitive group and have changed the culture of Ferris women’s basketball completely.
“It is something we’ve been trying to achieve since we’ve been here. It is so exciting to make it to the conference tournament because of all the hard work we have put in over the past couple years and now it has finally paid off,” Ferris junior guard Margo Brown said. “We are so excited for the future because we know how far we can go and how much we can accomplish.”
The No. 7 seed Bulldogs will travel to take on the No. 2 seed Michigan Tech Huskies at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 28, in the Student Development Complex Gymnasium in Houghton.
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