The Grand Rapids Community College women’s basketball team was able to accomplish their most convincing win tonight, beating Cornerstone University’s JV team Saturday afternoon by 19 points, 65-46.
At the end of the first quarter the Raiders were up 13-8, only to improve on the lead in the second quarter to finish the first half up by 10 points, 32-22. Opening the second half of the game, Cornerstone pushed back to squeeze the deficit down to six points, GRCC 46 and Cornerstone 40, but in the fourth the Raiders put the game away and held Cornerstone to only six points finishing with 19 points to end the game.
Defense was the biggest contributor to the victory, leading to the girls being able to “be patient on offense and allow for other things to happen,” according to Head Coach Dave Glazier.
“Defense sparks everything,” Glazier said. “It makes it easier to get points on the board and when you see points on the board, it’s easier then to be patient with what we’re trying to do offensively and tonight was a great example.”
The defense within the first five minutes of the game was “the best” Glazier has seen all season so far.
“All the credit goes to those kids,” Glazier said. “They have bought into what we’re trying to do defensively.”
Rebounds, especially offensive rebounds, was another contributing factor to the points GRCC was able to put up.
“We were out rebounded through the first half and then we ended up out rebounding them by 10 with 21 offensive rebounds,” Glazier said. “That’s 21 extra possessions, in theory, but it’s 21 extra possessions to where if you’re having a bad night and you get those offensive rebounds, it can make up for the slack elsewhere.”
The Raiders finished well statistically with some highlights being 52 rebounds (21 offensively and 33 defensively), shooting 38 percent from field goal range and finishing with 13 turnovers, half of their season average per game.
“The most prevalent issue to address is going to be free throws,” Glazier said. “We shot sub 50 percent tonight and three-point percentage. I think maybe we shot too many threes tonight. They were good looks … and really there always going to be little things to work on and things we, as a team, see and know is an issue … but tonight I think we did a lot of the little things right.”
The next game for the team will be a rematch against Hope College JV, who defeated the Raiders 68-79 at their last meeting. The rematch is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 7 at the GRCC Ford Fieldhouse.
