GAME STORYLINES
The Wayne State women's basketball team has won four straight and 10 of its last 13 contests, including a 65-52 victory over Parkside on Wednesday in a GLIAC Tournament quarterfinal match-up at the WSU Fieldhouse.  The Warriors travel to Allendale to battle No. 2-ranked Grand Valley State this Saturday in a GLIAC semifinal contest.

With a victory on Saturday, WSU would advance to the GLIAC Tournament Championship in which the Green and Gold would compete against either Northern Michigan or Ferris state.  NMU and FSU will face each other at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. 

SERIES HISTORY
GVSU leads the all-time series 64-26, including a 26-17 mark when playing on its home court.  The Lakers have won both previous GLIAC Tournament meetings (75-49 in a 2020 semifinal game at Ashland, 73-50 in Allendale in a 2019 quarterfinal match-up).  Grand Valley State won both of this year's meetings, prevailing 80-59 in Detroit, followed by an 85-67 triumph in Allendale.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
Grand Valley State concluded the regular season with a 29-2 record and did not skip a beat in the quarterfinal round of the GLIAC Tournament, downing Michigan Tech 60-47.

Rylie Bisballe, the GLIAC Player of the Year, leads the charge offensively for the Lakers, averaging 13.6 points per game and has hauled in a team-best 174 rebounds.  MacKenzie Bisballe is scoring 10.1 points per contest, while blocking a team-high 47 shots.

Mike Williams has compiled a 270-49 overall record in his 10th season at GVSU, following four seasons at Davenport (130-11) during its time in the NAIA.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
Wayne State has played the 19th-toughest schedule in Division 2 (447-347, .564), which ranks second in the Midwest Region.

NATIONAL ATTENTION
Taylor Thompson is 47th nationally in offensive rebounds with 3.2 per contest, which leads the GLIAC.  As a squad, the Warriors are 22nd in assists per game at 16.3.

Shea Tripp ranks 17th among active Division II players in career steals with 233.  Those 233 steals are fourth in program history.  The senior is 47th in assists (334), and is among those listed with at least 1,000 career points (1,283) and over 600 rebounds (681).

THOMPSON AND TRIPP GARNER ALL-GLIAC MARKS
Senior forward Shea Tripp was voted to the All-GLIAC First Team, while junior forward Taylor Thompson earned All-GLIAC Second Team honors, as well as GLIAC All-Defensive Team accolades.

COACH LOHR IN THE GLIAC TOURNAMENT
The 2024-25 campaign marks the eighth straight season that head coach Carrie Lohr's squad has qualified for the GLIAC Tournament.  The Warriors are 1-3 in true road games, which includes last year's 51-48 setback at Northern Michigan. All told, Wayne State is 4-7 in the GLIAC Tournament in the last eight years, including 2025.

During Coach Lohr's tenure, WSU has qualified for the GLIAC Tournament 11 times in 14 seasons with a 6-10 record.

TRIPP A FINALIST FOR WOODEN CITIZEN CUP
Senior forward Shea Tripp was selected as one of three national female finalists for the John Wooden Citizen Cup.

Founded by Athletes for a Better World (ABW), the Wooden Cup is unique in that it is open to athletes in all collegiate and Olympic or professional sports.  Nominations are open to every division and conference in college sports.

STOUT DEFENSE LIFTS THE WARRIORS
In its quarterfinal game with UWP, the Green and Gold held the Rangers to 52 points, which was their third lowest scoring output this season.

Alyssa Leister and McKenna Ferguson both tallied three steals, while Shea Tripp hauled in a team-best seven defensive rebounds (12 total) for a double-double as she scored a game-best 22 points.

Leister often found herself matched with UWP's two forwards, Chloe Van Zeeland and Lillie Petersen.  The Parkside duo averaged a combined 21 PPG entering Wednesday, but were held to just 16 points and a combined -20, while Leister was +20 when on the court and had the aforementioned three steals.

LAST GAME RECAP
The Green and Gold advanced to the semifinal round of the GLIAC Tournament following its 65-52 win over Parkside.

The Warriors started strong tallying 16 of the first 18 points.  Sheridan Flauger (UWP) halted the WSU onslaught as she connected on a lay-up with just under 5:00 remaining in the opening stanza.  Shea Tripp extended the Green and Gold advantage back to 14 (18-4) with her jumper.  The Rangers responded with a run of their own, notching the next eight points and cutting the Wayne State lead to just six at 18-12.  Both squads found the bottom of the net once more with the Warriors holding a 20-14 advantage after 10 minutes.

Van Zeeland began the scoring in the second quarter on the UWP's opening possession.  Taylor Thompson responded with a bucket of her own to put Wayne State ahead by six.  Van Zeeland once again netted a basket to shorten the WSU lead, but a triple by McKenna Ferguson pushed the hosts lead to seven (25-18).  Parkside scored on its next possession by way of a Cassidy Arni lay-up, cutting the UWP deficit to five.  Tripp found Alyssa Leister open behind the arc and the senior drained a long-range jumper to give WSU a 28-20 lead.  Back-to-back lay-ins for the guests brought them within four points.  On Wayne State's next possession, Lexi Boyke splashed a three which put WSU ahead 31-24.  The Rangers pulled within one point with just over 1:00 remaining, but a Leister lay-up with 0:22 left in the second period gave WSU a three-point lead heading into halftime.

Flauger tied the contest at 35 points apiece, nailing a three less than 10 seconds into the third quarter.  WSU responded with a 9-0 spurt in which Thompson, Tripp, and Gabi Lutchka all scored.  Alli Hampel (UWP) connected on a lay-up to make the score 44-37 in favor of Wayne State.  The hosts went on another 9-0 run, pushing its lead to 16 at 53-37.  The Rangers notched four of the final six points in the third stanza, but WSU led 55-41 with 10 minutes to play.

Lillie Peters brought UWP within 12 as her lay-in cut the Warrior lead to 55-43.  Neither squad scored for the next 2:32 until Arni made a lay-up with 7:15 remaining.  Both teams once more entered dry spells, as the next point was not recorded until the 4:35 mark by way of a Tripp lay-in.  The squads went back-and-forth with WSU out-pacing Parkside 8-7 for the remainder of the quarter.

REGIONAL RANKINGS
The NCAA released its third and final regional rankings on March 5, and five GLIAC teams were ranked in the top 10 of the Midwest Region with GVSU (1), Northern Michigan (3), Wayne State (6), Ferris State (8) and Parkside (10).

The three conference (GLIAC, GLVC and G-MAC) tournament winners receive an automatic bid with five teams being selected at-large by the committee.

The No. 1 seed in the region will host the NCAA Midwest Regional from March 14-17 with four quarterfinal games on Friday (3/14), two semifinal contests on Saturday (3/15) and the Sweet Sixteen match-up on Monday (3/17).