The second season begins this week for three Laker teams that head to conference tournaments.
 
Women's Basketball travels to top-ranked Grand Valley State in the GLIAC Women's Basketball Tournament, Men's Basketball hosts Purdue Northwest at the Bud Cooper Gym, and Hockey heads west to Minnesota to face St. Thomas.
 
Men's Basketball enters the GLIAC Men's Basketball Tournament as the hottest team in the league. Winners of seven straight games, Lake State climbed a pile of contenders and scaled the summit to grab home court in the opening round of the playoffs (Wednesday at 7:00 PM. Buy your tickets HERE).

In fact, the Lakers play the same team on Wednesday that they closed the regular season against on Saturday – Purdue Northwest. Lake State clobbered the Pride in Hammond, IN 84-67 behind 19 points from Karter Richards, who shot 6-for-6 from the field and stole the ball three times. The Lakers led by as much as 25 points. The score was very close to the same margin the first time the two teams met, when Lake State pounded the Pride 85-68 on January 2^nd. Harrison Sorrelle scored 27 in that game.

Lake State became a steamroller in February. After losing the month's first game to Michigan tech, the Lakers rolled off seven straight by winning in all manner of methods. Crushings, comebacks and back-and-forth tilts. LSSU hit 10 or more threes in six of eight games during the month, and 15 of their 29 contests this season.

Omar Suleiman leads the Lakers in scoring with 16.7 points per game, while shooting 44.8% from the field and 39.4% from three. Harrison Sorrelle averages 13 points per game, while Nino Carter-Smith has established himself as one of the GLIAC's premier point guards.

Karter Richards continues to grab the headlines for LSSU with his fantastic play since earning a spot in the starting lineup in late January. Over the last ten games, the redshirt freshman averages 16.2 points per game while shooting 67.1% from the field (second on the team), 61.5% from three (second), and 87% from the free throw line (tied for fourth). He's also averaging 4.0 rebounds per game (second), ranks second with 20 steals and second with 33 assists. Not only that, he's only committed nine turnovers in 25.4 minutes per game.

With guys like Tyler Jamison, Drew Hess, Dominic Krzesowiak, Kendall Smith and Peter Nwoke making important contributions nightly, the Lakers have the roster and the hot streak to run the table in the GLIAC Men's Basketball Tournament.

Buy your tickets online or at the Norris Center box office. Listen live on News Talk 1400 with Dave Watson on the call.

Dara Capaldi led Lake State's Women's Basketball team into the GLIAC Tournament with an epic 32 point, 11 rebound domination of Purdue Northwest on Saturday. The redshirt junior's performance was "fearless," according to Head Coach Grace Howrigon. Capaldi scored 15 in the second quarter as the Lakers cinched up a spot in the postseason.

After the win, Howrigon said, "I knew we had the resources and the people in place to have the support we needed in this community and at this school to build the program that I have this vision for. The most important piece to us building right now is that we have good humans in that locker room. They're about growth mindset, and because of that, they allow us to coach them. They have gotten so much better this year. We have improved drastically as individuals in a team. And our goal is to build a program that's in the top of the GLIAC. This is a big step. And I'm proud of us. I'm proud of the work we put in. And it's fun to see things kind of come into fruition right now."

Grace Bradford, a 1,000 point scorer and the leading rebounder in program history, averages 14.8 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. She's also the team leader in assists with 67 and tied with Clare Conzelmann for the team lead in steals with 40. One of the greatest players in Laker history, GB continues her legendary career on Wednesday at GVSU.

Conzelmann averages 7.9 points per game, and her perimeter defense stands out with 10 multi-steal games. She swiped the ball away from Purdue Northwest five times on Saturday and scored 12 points.

Seyyane Matthew's play impresses for LSSU as well. She had a six game stretch recording at least one block, with multiple swats in five of those contests. She posted two or more blocks in nine games this season. Matthew's combination of length, strength and footwork poses problems for anybody around the blocks, offensively or defensively.

The game (Wednesday at GVSU) will air prior to the Men's Basketball game on News Talk 1400, with opening tip at 5:30 PM.

Laker Hockey hits the road to face St. Thomas in a best-of-three CCHA Mason Cup Playoffs series, Friday at 8:07 PM EST, Saturday at 8:07 PM and Sunday (if necessary) at 6:07 PM.

LSSU comes in with points in five of the last six games after earning a thrilling comeback shootout win against Ferris State last Friday night. William Ahlrik scored a shorthanded goal, and Hadley Hudak deflected in the tying goal at 11:23 of the third. Adam Barone and Hunter Ramos scored in the shootout to grab two league points for the Lakers on Senior Night.

Calem Mangone went on a scoring rampage during his freshman year at Lake State, scoring 12 goals with 14 assists for 26 points. William Ahlrik's 11-15-26 line was outstanding as well, and the sophomore was one of the CCHA's best in the faceoff circle. Mangone's childhood friend, Adam Barone, went off during his own sophomore season, blossoming into a solid defender at the collegiate level while chipping in 15 assists.

Goaltender Rorke Applebee made the Mike Richter Award Watch List while posting a 2.89 Goals Against Average with a .914 Save Percentage.

LSSU also got big-time play out of players like Ryan Beck (19 points) and Evan Bushy (66 blocks, tied for 2^nd in the CCHA). The Lakers also get stellar leadership from the captaincy group: Co-Captains Connor Milburn and Sasha Teleguine, along with Assistant Captains Mike Brown and Evan Bushy.
Laker fans might remember the last time LSSU met St. Thomas in the Mason Cup Playoffs – back in March of 2024. Dawson Tritt scored in the dying seconds of the deciding Game 3 to win the series and send LSSU through to the semifinals.

Catch all of those games on 99.5 YES FM with James Cardarelli on the mic.

It's a huge week for Laker Athletics, with more action grabbing headlines as Track & Field competed at the GLIAC Championships, while Fedor Mironov prepares for the 2026 NCAA Swimming & Diving National Championships as the first representative from Lake Superior State in the program's two-year history.

Buy your tickets for Wednesday's Men's Basketball game and pack the Bud Cooper Gym!