ALLENDALE, Mich. – A late rally came up shy as Ohio Dominican's women's basketball team fell 81-77 at No. 17 Grand Valley State Saturday night in GLIAC play.

The Panthers fell to 5-3 (1-1 GLIAC), with all three losses coming to top-20 teams, and two coming down to the wire.

Trailing 73-62 with 3:20 left, ODU closed to 77-72 on a triple by senior Tori Beth Leader (West Portsmouth, Ohio) with 22 seconds to play. A three-pointer from straight on by senior Madi Rittinger (Dayton, Ohio) made it 79-77 with three seconds left, and the Panthers had a hand on the ensuing inbounds pass, but a foul sent GVSU to the line with 1.6 seconds to play to seal the game.

ODU shot 48.4 percent (31-of-64) against the Lakers' top-ranked GLIAC defense (50.0 ppg). ODU also made 7-of-14 from behind the arc, but GVSU (6-1, 2-0 GLIAC) countered with 12 made triples and made 17 free throws to eight for the Panthers.

The Panther bench scored 53 points, paced by freshman Jessica Boerger (Fort Loramie, Ohio), who scored 17 points with five rebounds. Senior Madi Rittinger (Dayton, Ohio) added 16 points with six rebounds, and Leader added 11 points off the bench as well.

Senior Lauren Bates (Hilliard, Ohio) tallied 15 points with six rebounds and six assists as well.

The Panthers led by as much as six in the first quarter (18-12) and trailed 34-32 at halftime, but Grand Valley jumped to a quick start in the third quarter, scoring the first seven points to go in front 41-32.

A three-point play by Boerger cut it to 49-45 with 3:24 to play in the quarter, but GVSU built its lead back out to as much as 12 (72-60) with 5:01 left in the game before ODU's final rally.

Ohio Dominican returns home to host Northern Michigan at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in Alumni Hall.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu