Another Grand finale! GVSU wins back-to-back national titles in women's basketball
Grand Valley State won the third national championship in program history, beating Indiana (Pa.), 72-49, in the final Saturday in Pittsburgh.
They dropped anchor in Pittsburgh, again. The Grand Valley State women's basketball team has won a second consecutive Division II national championship , steamrolling Indiana (Pa. ), 72-49, on Saturday at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
It was the third national championship in women's basketball for the Lakers (36-1), who also won it in 2006 under now-Minnesota head coach Dawn Plitzuweit. She was in attendance Saturday with her daughter, Lexi, on the current team. Plitzuweit made it after Minnesota's loss to UCLA in the Division I Sweet 16 on Friday night.
Grand Valley State dominated from the start Saturday, leading 17-8 after the first quarter and 41-24 at halftime against an Indiana team that was making its first appearance in the national-championship game. Indiana, playing about an hour from its campus, made a slight surge early in the third quarter, but redshirt senior guard Paige VanStee (Middleville) drained a 3-pointer to make it 46-29 with 6 minutes, 31 seconds left. VanStee scored Grand Valley's first 10 points of the second half, and finished with 25 points and nine rebounds.
Redshirt senior guard Nicole Kamin (Escanaba) and sophomore forward MacKenzie Bisballe (Lake City) each scored 18. The Lakers had 13 blocks; Bisballe had five, and Kamin and VanStee each had three. Junior guard Teresa Maggio had 20 points to lead Indiana (31-4), which shot 30% to the Lakers' 62.