UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team pulled away for a season-opening win over Hillsdale College on Friday at the James E. O'Neill Jr. Arena.

The Cardinals jumped out to a 10-point lead after the first quarter and held a nine-point advantage at the break. SVSU eventually stretched its lead throughout the second half and closed out the 81-65 victory to start the season 1-0.

How it Happened:

• Kaitlyn Zarycki and Maddie Barrie teamed up to score the first eight points of the game, lifting SVSU to an 8-0 advantage less than three minutes in.
• A pair of SVSU 3-pointers, including one from Maddie Maloney stretched the early advantage to 15-2.
• Hillsdale cut the deficit to six points midway through the second quarter, but another 3-pointer from Barrie put the Cardinals back up by nine.
• The SVSU edge ballooned to 49-33 early in the third after a layup-and-one from Barrie, while a late third-quarter layup from Tori DePerry put the Cardinals in front 61-46 after three quarters.
• Hillsdale made an early run in the fourth, cutting the SVSU lead to seven, but a 12-1 run from the Cardinals put the contest away.

Inside the Box Score:

• Zarycki led all scorers with 23 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the field. She added seven rebounds and seven assists.
• Barrie hit a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 19 points on 6-of-8 from the field while adding six rebounds.
• DePerry was 8-of-14 from the field for 19 points, adding a team-high nine rebounds.
• SVSU shot 31-of-59 from the field, 6-of-18 from deep, and 13-of-14 from the free-throw line.
• The Cardinals outrebounded the Chargers 45-21.
• SVSU totaled 18 assists and 14 turnovers.
• Hillsdale was led by Grace Touchette with 17 points.

Up Next:

SVSU remains home to host the University of Findlay at 1 pm Saturday at the James E. O'Neill Jr. Arena.