PREVIEW: Ferris State Women's Basketball Wraps Up Campaign At GVSU Thursday

This Week's Action: The Ferris State University women's basketball team wraps up the 2015-16 campaign against archrival Grand Valley State on Thursday (Feb. 25) night in Allendale, Mich. The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) tilt is slated for a 6 p.m. (ET) start inside the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena.

Media Coverage: Thursday's game will be carried live by local flagship station Sunny 97.3 FM and the Bulldog Sports Network with Rob Bentley calling the play-by-play action. The coverage gets underway with the Bush Insurance Pregame Show a half-hour prior to the women's tipoff and is also accessible online at FerrisStateBulldogs.com. For a full listing of links, including live
internet stats and video coverage, please visit FerrisStateBulldogs.com.  

Follow On Twitter/Facebook: In addition to internet coverage, Bulldog fans can also follow all games this season via Twitter and Facebook with updates. Please visit www.facebook.com/FerrisWBasketball or www.twitter.com/FerrisWBBALL to follow the periodic posts and tweet-by-tweet coverage with scoring updates.

Senior Night Thursday: Last Thursday was FSU's Senior Night as the Bulldogs honored a total of six players during their final regular-season home games. The group included four men's basketball seniors along with two from the women's squad - senior guard Katie Mavis and Emily Evans. In her four seasons on the floor, Mavis has tallied more than 750 career points and over 200 rebounds and assists. Evans has played in 65 games in her three seasons to date and started 22 games in a Bulldog uniform, including 22 this year to date.

Decisive Home Win: Prior to a pair of setbacks last week against Hillsdale and Saginaw Valley State, Ferris State posted its most decisive victory of the campaign as the Bulldogs beat Lake Superior State in strong fashion 71-56 on Feb. 13 inside Jim Wink Arena. Senior forward Rachel McInerney hit 12-of-18 shots from the floor en route to a game-high and careeer-best 32 points. She also had 12 rebounds in a double-double showing. Meanwhile, forward Alexis Huntey also posted a double-double with 11 points and a game-high and career-best 22 rebounds. Finally, senior guard Katie Mavis added 11 points as FSU avenged an earlier setback to LSSU.

Buzzer-Beating Home Win: Bulldog guard Emily Evans hit a jumper as time expired to lift Ferris State to a thrilling 57-55 buzzer-beating victory over Saginaw Valley State earlier this year on Jan. 30 at FSU's Jim Wink Arena. The win came against the GLIAC North Division leading Cardinals in conference action. FSU forward Alexis Huntey had a big day with 20 points and a game-high 19 rebounds while sophomore center Rachel McInerney tallied 18 points and eight boards. Ferris State played only seven players in the contest with all seeing at least 16 minutes of action or more in the biggest win to date this season.

A New Era: A Michigan native and former NCAA Division I head coach returned to her home state to guide the Ferris State women's basketball program as Kendra (Harris) Faustin became the Bulldogs' new head coach this past summer, replacing former head coach Colleen Lamoreaux-Tate after three years at the helm. Faustin, who competed collegiately in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) at Lake Superior State and later served as an assistant coach within the league at Hillsdale, brings considerable NCAA Division I head coaching experience to the position after having served the past eight years as the head coach at Niagara in Lewiston, N.Y. She became the seventh head coach in the 41-year history of Bulldog women's basketball.

The Lineup: First-year head coach Kendra Faustin, who formerly was the head coach at NCAA Division I Niagara University, welcomed back six squad members from a year ago for her first campaign, but the Bulldogs have battled injuries this season. The squad has featured a youthful team with nine new faces now in the program. Senior guard Katie Mavis was the leading returning scorer coming back off last year's team after averaging 11.5 points per game a year ago and is a three-year letterwinner in the FSU lineup, but has missed some time year due to injury.

Scouting Grand Valley State: Grand Valley State is presently 19-8 overall and 14-7 in the GLIAC to date this year under first-year head coach Mike Williams. The Lakers, who are 11-2 to date at home this campaign, have dropped three of their last five outings overall, but are coming off a 71-65 road win at Hillsdale last Saturday (Feb. 20). GVSU is paced in scoring by junior forward Kayla Dawson at 17.0 points per game to date this season.

Earlier This Year: Grand Valley State raced to a 97-60 win over the Bulldogs in the first matchup this year on Feb. 1 inside FSU's Jim Wink Arena. The lakers doubled up FSU 24-12 in the second period to grab a 17-point halftime lead after a close opening quarter. FSU was led by sophomore center Rachel McInerney, who finished with a team-high 18 points in 30 minutes of action. Senior guard Katie Mavis added 12 points and freshman forward Abby Nakfoor had nine for the Bulldogs. GVSU was led by Piper Tucker and Kayla Dawson with 26 and 24 points, respectively.

Series History: GVSU holds a 59-28 advantage heading into Thursday's 88th encounter. The Lakers have claimed 17 of the last 27 series' matchups to date. Last year, the Lakers won both matchups by scores of 69-59 in Allendale (2/2/15) and 104-73 in Big Rapids (2/26/15). Two year ago, the Lakers won the first meeting 60-57 in Allendale before FSU captured a 59-56 win at home in Big Rapids in the final meeting of the year. GVSU previously swept FSU twice in 2012-13 by scores of 83-73 in Big Rapids (2/2/13) and 70-59 in Allendale (3/2/13). GVSU fell to FSU twice in 2011-12 as the Bulldogs recorded a 58-50 win at Wink Arena (1/28/12) along with a 46-44 regular-season finale triumph in Allendale (2/25/12). The two teams split two games in 2010-11 with GVSU posting a 69-62 win over FSU (1/29/11) in the "131 Showdown" at Van Andel Arena prior to Ferris State's exciting 65-62 triumph in the regular-season finale (2/26/11) at Wink Arena. FSU has won seven of the last 18 matchups overall..

Important Bulldog Notes: Sophomore forward Rachel McInerney's 32 points against Lake Superior State on Feb. 13 were the most in her career, topping the 27 she scored against nationally-ranked Ashland earlier this year (Dec. 5). She has 22 double-figure scoring games this year, including the last 12 games in a row ..... McInerney's 32 points were the most scored by a Bulldog player since former guard Teghan Thelen had 36 points at Kentucky Wesleyan in 2008 (11/15) .... Alexis Huntey's 22 rebounds were versus LSSU on Feb. 13 were the most in a single game in FSU history dating back to at least 2000 and only five shy of the school single-game record of 27 set by Marry Patterson against Wayne State in 1987 (1/8).