Box Score GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The Purdue University Northwest Women's Basketball program hit the road for Michigan on Thursday, December 5, to start off the 2019-20 season of GLIAC conference play against the Davenport University Panthers. The Pride would go on to claim their first conference win of the season with a tight final score of 77-76.
"I think we started off a little slow but we came back strong," said Head Coach
Courtney Locke. "The twelve days of no competition slowed us down a bit, but we came back and answered. I'm so, so proud of the effort the ladies put on the court tonight. It doesn't matter where you start -- and we started off ugly -- but we came back and I couldn't be prouder of this team."
The Panthers pulled ahead with a 12-4 lead early in the first quarter before the Pride upped the pressure, playing off a few key turnovers to end the first quarter three points behind with a score of 23-25. By the end of the first half, PNW would trade the lead with Davenport a handful of times before entering halftime narrowly down with a score of 46-42. No. 4
Savaya Brockington put up an impressive 11 points in the first twenty minutes of competition with No. 44
Molly DeValkenaere close behind with 10 points of her own, both pulling down 3 rebounds.
The first half would see the Pride leading over the Panthers with a field goal percentage of 47.2%, but fell short in the areas of 3-pointers and free throws with 38.5% and 50%, respectively, compared to the Panthers' 53.8% and 90% efficiency.
Entering the second half, PNW would trade possession back and forth with the Davenport with neither team scoring in the first two minutes of play until No. 1
Anjel Galbraith landed a critical layup. Purdue Northwest would go on to take a 51-46 lead off a 3-pointer and a layup from Brockington. The Panthers would not close the point gap until late in the third quarter, tying the game at 56-56. The Pride would go on to enter the final quarter of play leading by a single point with a score of 61-60.
Purdue Northwest and Davenport traded the narrow lead back and forth several times in the closing minutes of the game until the final whistle blew when PNW claimed their first GLIAC victory of the season with a final score of 77-76.
Brockington would end the evening with a new career high of 25 points made. Other statistical leaders for the Pride were DeValkenaere bringing home 16 points, five rebounds and 2 steals; Galbraith with 13 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals; and No. 21
Danielle Nennig with seven points, 6 rebounds and one steal.
"Savaya played great for us," said Locke. "She had some great shot selection; she didn't force the play; she let it come to her. We saw some amazing plays come from Molly, some critical free throws from Danielle, and Kennedy [Jackson] put up some amazing defensive plays for us tonight. This team really fought for this win and I'm going to let them enjoy it before we turnaround and take on Grand Valley this Saturday."
The Pride will return to action on Saturday, December 7 when they will take on the Grand Valley State University Lakers. Tip-off is set for noon (CT).
