The Ferris State women’s basketball team fell in the semi-finals of the GLIAC tournament versus the Northern Michigan Wildcats on Saturday, March 9 after defeating the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals at home in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, March 6.
In the first round of the GLIAC conference tournament, the Bulldogs (22-5, 15-3 in the GLIAC) took down the Cardinals (10-19, 7-11 in the GLIAC) with a score of 54-47. Then did not advance to the conference championship as the Wildcats (21-8, 13-5 in the GLIAC) defeated Ferris by the score of 63-56.
Due to Ferris being the second seed in the GLIAC conference, they hosted their game against Saginaw Valley State. These two teams are familiar with each other as the teams already met each other two times during the season and split the season series. Ferris took the first game 59-57, and the Cardinals won the second game 47-44.
Head coach Kurt Westendorp knew this would be a close game
“You know what you’re going to get with them,” Westendorp said. “It was super physical the first two games and that is just the style they like to play.”
After the first quarter, the Bulldogs were down 13-9. However, the team was able to put together a scoring run in the second quarter to go into halftime up 28-19. Ferris never looked back after halftime and did not allow the Cardinals to get back into the game. Ultimately beating them 54-47.
Ferris won the turnover battle, as Ferris turned the ball over just 13 times compared to the Cardinals’ 18 times. The team also generated more points off turnovers, winning that battle 17-11.
Four Bulldogs tallied two or more steals, including junior guard Kenzie Bowers who ended up with two steals.
“In practice, we always talk about the ‘Most Important Girl’ which is our last line of defense,” Bowers said. “I just happened to be in that spot a lot today and was just able to pick off the pass and get into transition.”
Ferris faced another familiar opponent in the semi-finals on Saturday, March 9. The Northern Michigan Wildcats, whom the Bulldogs had already beaten twice prior to this matchup by scores of 79-67 and 71-66. The result was not the same, and Ferris dropped this one.
The game was back and forth the entire contest and consisted of 12 lead changes and six ties. Neither team was having a great offensive first half which led to The Bulldogs going into the break down 23-25. In the second half, the Wildcats started the third quarter on an 8-0 run and it was hard for Ferris to gain any ground when trying to mount a comeback.
Ferris shot 35% from the field on the day and struggled mightily from beyond the arc shooting just 23% from range. Ferris was also outrebounded 42-33 and that was one of Westendorp’s biggest takeaways.
“We can not give up as many rebounds as we gave up,” Westendorp said. “Those are momentum plays and momentum killers and Northern did a great job at making those plays”
The Bulldogs season is not over, as the team prepares for the NCAA tournament. Westendorp knows the team has to “play a complete game” in their tournament contests next week.
Ferris will be participating in the DII women’s basketball tournament as they secured their spot as an at-large bid. Ferris locked down the number three seed in the Midwest region. The Bulldogs will play against the sixth-seed Lewis University Flyers who finished with a record of 23-8 and won the GLVC tournament.
Senior Forward Kadyn Blanchard has nothing but confidence going into the tournament.
“We are very confident,” Blanchard said. “We have a veteran team and are all playing for each other, we haven’t played Lewis yet so it will be fun to play someone we haven’t seen, and we are all excited to go out and win with each other.”
Ferris’ tournament game will be held Friday, March 15 at 12 p.m. at the GVSU Fieldhouse in Allendale, MI.