Lady Red Hawks Defensive Effort Gains Road Win

Lake Michigan College led from start to finish by getting off to a quick pace thanks to their defensive effort in the first quarter. The Lady Red Hawks held Grand Rapids Community College to just five points in the first 10 minutes, while scoring 18 points to take a 13-point lead heading in to the second quarter.  The game slowed down for both teams in the 10 minutes, with neither team being able to make shots throughout the second quarter. The Lady Raiders did mount a comeback to cut the lead to single digits, but Lake Michigan again picked up their defensive effort by forcing turnovers and getting blocked shots. The Lady Red Hawks did manage to outscore Grand Rapids 14-13 in the second quarter and take a 32-18 lead into the halftime break.

The third quarter was very similar to the second quarter with both teams struggling to score. But again the defensive effort of the Lady Red Hawks did not allow the Lady Raiders to mount a big comeback. Grand Rapids outscored Lake Michigan 15-14 in the third quarter but the Lady Red Hawks entered the fourth quarter with a 46-33 lead. In the final 10 minutes, Lake Michigan played defense like they did in the first quarter and really limited the offensive output from the Lady Raiders.  The Lady Red Hawks continued not to shoot the ball as well, but key steals and blocks helped Lake Michigan outscore Grand Rapids 16-6 in the final 10 minutes and the 62-39 win.

After the game, Head Coach, Patrick Daniel stated "Very proud of my team's defensive effort tonight.  Some nights shot will not go in and tonight was that night, but we still played the type of defense we needed to do and got another very good conference win on the road."

For the game, Lake Michigan shot 32% (23-71) and held Grand Rapids to 19% (11-58).  The Lady Red Hawks also out rebounded the Lady Raiders 57 to 45, including 20 offensive rebounds.  Lake Michigan also had 18 assists, 19 steals, 11 blocks and forced Grand Rapids to commit 25 turnovers.

The Lady Red Hawks were led in scoring by Samantha Jenkins who had 19 points and five assists.  Taylor Cegelis added 12 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocks. Aymia Flowers chipped in 11 points and Jayla Bibbs had five steals. Lake Michigan is now 13-4 overall and 5-1 in the MCCAA Western Conference.

Lake Michigan returns to their home court on Wednesday, January 23, 2019 when they host Lansing Community College at 5:30 PM.