Texas Township, Mich. – The Raiders hadn't beaten Kalamazoo Valley in years, but that all changed Monday night as the shorthanded visitors took care of the Cougars 58-49 to win two in a row and stay in the playoff hunt. The win improves GRCC to 14-8 overall and 5-6 in conference play. The Cougars, who came in the game just a half game back of GR, fall to 10-11 overall and 4-8 in the league.
The Cougars would get on the board first and take an early 8-4 lead, but the Raiders responded on a 12-0 run to take a 16-8 lead with 41 seconds left in the first quarter. KVCC then went on an 8-0 run that made it 16 all just 28 seconds into the second quarter. Hallee Breimayer (Belding, MI) sank a three with 6:43 left on the clock giving her team the 19-16 advantage and the Raiders would not give up the lead the rest of the way.
The Raiders lead by as many as 15 points on a couple different occasions in the second half, with the last coming from back to back threes from Carlee Odom (Centreville, MI) and Breimayer. The Cougars got to within nine points a few times, but the Raider defense was too much for the home team to overcome.
With Madelynn Miller (Elkhart, IN) sitting out for her fourth straight game and Rayven Mondy (Kentwood, MI) missing the game due to illness, the Raiders had to get 30+ plus minutes from four Raiders and over 20 for two more. Mya Jordan finished with the lonely double-double on the night with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Briemayer finished with 18 points as well, adding a game high 7 assists. Aaliyah Sargent (Cedar Springs, MI) had 7 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Kendall Griffioen (Hudsonville, MI), making her first start of the season and playing a season high 30+ minutes, finished with 6 points, 5 rebounds and a game high 5 blocks.
The Raiders will try to make it three in a row and even up their conference record when they travel to Lansing Community College on Wednesday. In their first meeting this season on January 11th, the Raiders got the best of the Stars, 50-46. The Stars will come into the game with a 6-16 (2-9) record after dropping their last two, including a 79-57 setback to Jackson on Monday night. Tip off is at 5:30 PM and you can follow all the updates on GRCC Athletics on Twitter.
