UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team defeated Ohio Dominican University tonight (Jan. 28), 62-49. The win improves the Cardinals to 4-15 on the season and 2-10 in the GLIAC, while the Panthers drop to 6-13 overall and 2-11 in the conference.

The Cardinals jumped out to an early 9-2 lead after Grace Herzog (Linden, Mich./Powers Catholic HS) pulled down a rebound and put it back for two at the 16:30 mark of the first half. Herzog continued her strong play as she finished the contest with eight points, 14 rebounds and seven blocks. Entering today's contest, Grace led Division II in total blocks (64) and ranked second in blocks per game (3.55).

Saginaw Valley would increase their lead to as many as seven points before the Panthers crawled back to take a 19-16 advantage with 6:57 to go in the half.

SVSU battled back and took the lead after a Kristen Greene (Brown City, Mich.) steal and fast-break layup to put the Cardinals up 24-21 with 3:38 remaining in the half. Greene recorded a team-high 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the floor including three triples.

The back-and-forth battle would continue as Ohio Dominican went on a 7-0 run to close out the half with a 28-24 advantage. Saginaw Valley shot 50 percent in the first half, going 11-for-22 from the field.

Samantha Zirzow (Goodrich, Mich.) would give the Cardinals their first lead of the second half 31-30 on a pair of free throws with 14:25 to play in the contest. Zirzow finished the afternoon with ten points and three steals.

Saginaw Valley took their largest lead of the half after Meijer "Player of the Game" Kayla Womack (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./North HS) stole an errant Panther pass and went coast-to-coast to put SVSU ahead, 45-37, with 8:25 to go in regulation.  Womack recorded 16 points and six rebounds on 7-of-12 shooting.

Saginaw Valley finished the contest on a 27-14 run to grab the victory, 62-49.

SVSU shot 45.3 percent for the contest while outrebounding and committing fewer turnovers than Ohio Dominican.

The Cardinals will return to action on Thursday (Feb. 2) when they visit Grand Valley for a 6:00 PM start.