The Ferris State University women’s bas­ket­ball team ended their sea­son with a 65–62 vic­tory over nationally-ranked Grand Valley State University.

“It was just a mind­set today that we didn’t know what los­ing was,” senior for­ward Tiara Adams said. “There was no los­ing. We were going to win.”

FSU held a 36–31 half­time edge and led by as many as 11 points in the sec­ond period. However, with 1:35 left in the con­test, GVSU man­aged to cut down the lead to a sin­gle point.

The Lakers had an oppor­tu­nity to take the lead with 15 sec­onds to go but were denied by the tena­cious Bulldog defense. Senior guard Becci Houdek par­tially blocked a GVSU jump shot, and Adams grabbed the rebound.

Adams then sank two free throws to seal the win.

“I thought we played with a lot of guts,” Ferris head coach Tracey Dorow said. “We got some key rebounds and some key stops. We exe­cuted what we needed to when we needed to.”

With the vic­tory, FSU ended the year with a 13–13 over­all record and an 8–11 GLIAC fin­ish. The team did not advance to the post­sea­son tournament.

Junior guard Tricia Principe led the Bulldogs with a game-high 25 points. She hit seven-of-11 from behind the arc. Adams added 16 points.

“It was just impor­tant for us to go out there and play our hearts out for each other,” said Adams. “To get a win over Grand Valley in our last game is really extra special.”

The Bulldogs trounced Urbana (Ohio) 85–58 on Feb. 23 to head into the Grand Valley game with some much needed confidence.

Prior to the game, Adams, Houdek, and senior cen­ter Andrea Clancy were hon­ored for their accom­plish­ments as part of Senior Day at Jim Wink Arena. Over the course of their careers, the trio has accu­mu­lated 1,954 points as well as 1,075 rebounds.

“The one thing I wanted was to see them all play their hearts out and play for the win,” Dorow said. “I’m just so proud of them and happy they get to fin­ish their careers with a win.”

In her final col­le­giate game, Houdek tal­lied a game-high 10 assists to go with seven points and three steals.

Clancy missed six games this sea­son fol­low­ing an injury suf­fered dur­ing the “131 Showdown.” She returned to the start­ing lineup Saturday and con­tributed three points, two assists, and a rebound in her last appear­ance for the Bulldogs.

During the postgame press con­fer­ence, Dorow com­mended the seniors for their fierce com­pe­ti­tion, qual­ity lead­er­ship, and self­less­ness as team­mates in the face of “some tough times.”

“I’m so proud of the way they’ve pulled this team together over the last two years,” Dorow said. “I’d say they’ve laid a very strong foun­da­tion for our future.” n

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