Lady Vikings hang on for win at LMC

A balanced offensive attack and a hot second quarter helped the Glen Oaks women's basketball team claim a 69-64 victory at Lake Michigan College Wednesday night in an important MCCAA Western Conference contest. 

With the win, the Vikings are withing striking distance of a final spot in the NJCAA Division II District Tournament. Glen Oaks is now just a half game behind Lake Michigan for fifth place in the MCCAA Western Conference. The top five earn a District berth. GOCC, with three games remaining, is 2-7 in the league and the Red Hawks dropped to 2-6. 

The Vikings built a 16-13 lead Wednesday heading into the second quarter. Sophomore Kennedy Lockett scored 10 points of her 14 points in the second frame to lead a strong push to intermission by Glen Oaks, which had a 40-30 advantage at the break. 

But the Red Hawks would anser in the third quarter, outscoring GOCC 21-11 to tie the game. Cami Turpin got to the rack early in the fourth to tie things up at 53-53 and Zy'Asija Scott, who also tallied 14 points for the night, stole the ball at mid-court for a layup to give Glen Oaks an edge with 8:16 remaining. Lake Michigan went on a 5-0 run before Tayler Denton drained a 3-pointer to even the score again. Turpin followed with a strong drive, picking up a foul on the made basket and making the free throw to complete the three-point play. It gave Oaks a 61-58 lead with 5:41 to play. 

Following a long delay after a double-technical call, Turpin drew a foul after grabbing a tough offensive rebound and made her second free throw for a three-point lead at the 2:55 mark. She was tripped up on a drive on the Vikings' next possession and again hit 1 of 2 from the stripe for a 64-60 cushion. With just under a minute to play, LMC scored in transition off a Glen Oaks turnover to cut the deficit to two points. 

The Vikings worked the shot clock down to seven seconds and Lockett dropped a baseline floater to give the visitors some breathing room. Leigha Shudell came up with a jump ball for Glen Oaks on the defensive end with 17 seconds left but Glen Oaks turned the ball over on the ensuing inbound pass and the Red Hawks took it down for a layup to make it a two-point contest with 13 seconds to play. Shudell would hit two free throws and the GOCC defense forced an airball 3-point attempt with six seconds left. Shudell hit one more free throw in the closing seconds to secure the win. 

Turpin ended the evening with 11 points, Jordyn Partee and Denton each finished with 9, Shudell and Tracy Ackley posted 5 apiece, and Jayla Parker-Vincent added 2. 

Glen Oaks is on the road Saturday against Kellogg before finishing the regular season at home against Grand Rapids and Southwestern Michigan.