The Ursuline College basketball team ended the 2016-17 season with a loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to #5 ranked Grand Valley State 73-66 on Friday night in Ashland.

The Arrows got a quick spark from sophomore Natalie Koenig who buried a three-pointer in the early minutes to make it 4-2 before the teams traded baskets the rest of the opening quarter. Redshirt junior Laney Lewis also hit a three to make it 10-8 but the Lakers answered back with a triple of their own to take an 11-10 advantage at the first media timeout.

Grand Valley closed the quarter on a 12-0 run to lead 20-10 after one. The lead grew to 25-13 before Koenig hit a turnaround jumper in the paint to make it 25-14 with 8:00 left in the first half. The Arrows pulled to within seven late in the quarter but would trail 34-23 at the break.

Trailing 47-34 with 4:00 to play in the third quarter the Ursuline offense started to rally. Junior Camryn Hill finished a layup on a pass from Koenig and Lewis followed with a layup of her own to make it 47-36. Koenig then hit another three-pointer to bring the Arrows to within eight. With 2:32 remaining in the quarter, Koenig buried another shot from behind-the-arch to make it 47-42. Lewis finished layup at the buzzer to make it 51-47 at the end of three.

Grand Valley answered the Ursuline run with one of its own to start the fourth quarter to extend the lead back to 14 at 63-49. Another layup from Lewis brought the Arrows to within five at 65-60 with 2:40 to play but the Lakers scored the next two baskets to build the lead back to seven.

Ursuline shot 36 percent (24-for-66) from the field in the game and was just 21 percent from the field in the first half. The Arrows were 8-for-29 from three and 10-for-16 from the free throw line while Grand Valley shot 44 percent from the floor and went 7-for-16 from three.

The Arrows were led by Koenig who finished with a game-high 26 points on 9-for-22 from the field including 5-for-12 from three. Lewis added 19 points and 13 rebounds while Huber finished with 10 points.

Ursuline finished the season with the second most wins in school history and earned its highest seed in the NCAA Tournament after making its first appearance last season.