UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team defeated Lake Superior State University, 73-58 in their 2011-12 GLIAC opener tonight (Dec. 1). The victory is the Cardinals' second straight win on the season and first win to open GLIAC play since 2004-05.

Jasmine Woods (Lansing, Mich./Holt HS) earned her second straight Meijer "Player of the Game" honor after leading the Cardinals with a career-high 27 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the floor. Kristen Greene (Brown City, Mich./Brown City HS) scored 13 points on 6-of-14 shooting, while Kayla Womack (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./Grosse Pointe North HS) added 10 points for the game.

The Cardinals marched out to a 46-27 halftime lead on 20-of-32 shooting. SVSU would take its first double-digit lead, 25-14, when Samantha Zirzow (Goodrich, Mich./Goodrich HS) laid in a fast break basket with just under ten minutes to play. The Cardinals lead increased to 46-25 late in the first half before the Lakers added a bucket as time expired to make the score 46-27.

The second half would go back and forth until a Laker rally closed the SVSU advantage to 58-50 with 6:53 remaining. The Cardinals would respond, pushing their lead back to double-digits on the next bucket. From there, the Cardinals would ride the back of Woods and her 15 second half points as their lead increased to 73-56 on her bucket with 1:18 to play. The Cardinals finished the game strong, claiming the 73-58 victory.

With the win, Saginaw Valley improves to 2-3 overall and 1-0 in the GLIAC, while Lake Superior State falls to 4-4 overall and 0-1 in the GLIAC on the season. The Cardinals will return to action on Monday (Dec. 5) when they host Madonna at James E. O'Neill Arena, tipoff is scheduled for 6:00 PM.