On the road, the Grand Valley State University women’s basketball team was attempting to do something it has not done since the 2001-2002 season — win at Michigan Technological University.

After a building an eight-point lead in the opening minutes of the contest, it looked as though the Lakers might earn their first victory at SDC Gymnasium under GVSU head coach Janel Burgess. However, Michigan Tech (12-4, 7-3) put together a 15-5 run to close out the opening half and handed GVSU (9-9, 6-5 GLIAC) a 69-48 loss.

“In the last nine minutes we gave up offense rebounds that we did not score any points on,” Burgess said. “And we did not defend the low post well at all. Those two categories hurt us the most.”

In a match-up that featured two of the top three defenses in the GLIAC, with the Lakers holding opponents to an average of 55.1 points per game and the Huskies holding opponents to an average 54.9 points per game, it was GVSU’s defense that faltered.

Michigan Tech was unfazed by GVSU’s defensive statistics, out-scoring the Lakers 32-16 in the paint.

“This was probably the first game in a long time that we did not stick to our defensive principles,” said senior forward Kara Crawford, who scored seven points in the loss. “We didn’t stick to the game plan, we came out for strong-side help, we did everything that we weren’t supposed to do. Usually our defense anchors our entire game.”

Although the Huskies do have a one of the top defenses in the conference, Burgess said that GVSU’s inability to score efficiently had more to do with the lack of execution on the Lakers part than with their opponent’s game plan.

“We made it hard on ourselves in the form of missed layups and we didn’t convert free-throws,” she said. “When you don’t take advantage of those two opportunities it’s going to be pretty tough to score.”

On Thursday, GVSU pulled out a 51-48 come-from-behind victory over Northern Michigan University (8-9, 4-6 GLIAC).

Traveling with only 10 players due to injuries, the short-handed Lakers had everyone on their roster score or notch a rebound in the win.

“It was a good team effort, everyone contributed something,” said junior guard Briauna Taylor, who had eight points and five rebounds in the win. “It was good to be able to fight our way back and get the win, especially at Northern, because we got revenge for the last time we played them. “

Facing a single-digit deficit almost the entire second half, Briauna Taylor, junior forward Brittany Taylor and freshman point guard Meryl Cripe came up clutch for the Lakers down the stretch.

The trio scored GVSU’s final five points, which included a Cripe 3-pointer with 1.05 seconds left on the clock and a free throw apiece from the Taylor sisters.

The Lakers will travel to Ferris State University on Saturday and face the Bulldogs at 1 p.m.

assistantsports@lanthorn.com