By Noli Brown
The Grand Rapids Community College women’s basketball team fell to No. 11 ranked Lake Land College on Dec. 8 in a 28-72 loss.
Starting for the Raiders was freshman guard Cylie Burns, freshman forward Ava Schultz, freshman forward Sophia Modderman, freshman guard Anna Tubbergen and freshman forward Kaylie VanDerHulst.
GRCC came out in the beginning of the game with a slow start, only scoring a total of three points in the first quarter, while the Lakers had a hot start hitting six 3-pointers in just the first quarter.
At the end of the first quarter GRCC only had three points, while the Lakers had 20 points making the score 3-20 going into the second quarter.
To start the second quarter the Raiders just couldn’t get their offense working for them, however they were able to tack on another nine points going into halftime.
On the other hand Lake Land College kept on tacking on points making another three 3-pointers and multiple 2-pointers to go into halftime with an additional 16 points.
Going into the second half of the game, the Raiders had 12 points while the Lakers had 36 points.
In the third quarter the Raiders got their offense going and were able to add on 12 points, six of the points scored by freshman guard Aaliyah Ratliff. However they were still struggling on the defensive end to stop the Lakers from scoring.
To end the third quarter GRCC had 24 points while Lake Land had 56 points.
Beginning the fourth quarter the Raiders had a good start and were making stops on the defensive end, but then the Lakers continued to swing the ball to create open shots which led to the Lakers pulling away.
The final score of the game was 28-72 ending in another loss for the Raiders making their record 3-5.
Freshman guard Cylie Burns is proud of how their team performed considering the circumstances. “I think we played well from battling injuries and still figuring each other out,” Burns said.“It’s a long season and we can work hard and take this experience to use moving forward.”
Overall, the Raiders struggled on both the offensive and defensive end. They couldn’t get their offsene to click the way they hoped and the Lakers moved the ball on their offensive side creating a lot of open shot opportunities for them.
The GRCC Raiders take on Lansing Community College next on Dec. 16 at Ford Fieldhouse to wrap things up before Christmas break.
“Our goals are to continue to grow as a team,” Burns said. “Our team is young so it’s all still a learning process for all of us, but with open minds and commitment we can continue to improve as a team headed into conference games.”
