The Michigan machine rolls on.

IUP’s dream of a national championship in women’s basketball was shattered by a nightmarish outcome in Saturday’s NCAA Division II title game against defending champion Grand Valley State.

The bigger, longer and stronger Lakers from Allendale, Mich., outclassed Indiana County’s Crimson Hawks during a 72-49 rout at Duquesne’s UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, spoiling IUP’s first appearance in the finals.

The outcome left IUP coach Craig Carey in awe.

“We tried our hearts out to respond, but they’re a heck of a team,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of players that can do a lot of different things.”

Paige VanStee scored 25 points to lead Grand Valley State (36-1) to its third national championship and second in a row under coach Mike Williams, who joins five others with three Division II titles.

Carey tried hiding his feelings following the methodical beatdown. Maybe some extra time to prepare during the five-day Elite Eight marathon of games could’ve helped.

While IUP (31-4) was battling for a pair of five-point victories against Holy Family in overtime Tuesday and against Colorado Mesa on Thursday, Grand Valley State was racing past Carson Newman, 96-48, and Alabama-Huntsville, 61-39, before steamrolling IUP by 23 points in the final.

“If you would have time, you could get some practice guys — some guys that are taller and longer — and you could give them a look,” Carey said. “This is so rare to get a team like this. I saw their speed when scouting them, but you never really know until your speed is up against their speed.

“(VanStee) ran down the floor one time, and I said, ‘Oh, boy, we’re in trouble.’ Everyone’s so tall, everyone’s so fast. We just could never quite get it going offensively. They’re switching a lot, and when they’ve got 2-3 inches at every position, including the post, it’s tough when you don’t see that a lot.”

Grand Valley State closed on a 15-game winning streak dating to its only loss, 78-77 to Wayne State (Mich.) on Feb. 7.

The Lakers came back to beat the Warriors, 90-70, in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference semifinals March 14 before going on to their fifth consecutive GLIAC championship.

From there, it was a waltz.

The Lakers never were challenged in the NCAA Elite Eight at Duquesne’s Uptown arena. They put an exclamation point on another stellar season in the final game at IUP’s expense.

“We talked about being focused, and I thought we were focused right from the start,” Williams said. “Defensively, we did a great job of trying to stay in front of them and not giving easy looks on the perimeter. We got deep in the paint to try to bother them and tip their shots.”

Grand Valley State jumped to leads of 8-0 and 10-2 and was never challenged.

Nicole Kamin and MacKenzie Bisballe added 18 points each for Grand Valley State.

“We kind of hit a wall energy-wise,” Carey said. “We were hanging in there in the first half … but you only get one crack at it. That’s March. Hats off to them.”

Teresa Maggio led IUP with 20 points.

The Crimson Hawks saw an eight-game winning streak end. They’d lost to Gannon, 72-62, on Feb. 28 but returned the favor a week later by beating the Golden Knights, 61-57, in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship game.

With IUP settling for national runner-up, the PSAC will try Sunday again to produce a Division II basketball title as PSAC men’s champion Gannon (33-3) takes on Peach Belt Conference champion Lander (30-5) at 1 p.m. at Indianapolis’ Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Gannon advanced to the championship game following a 98-80 victory over Oklahoma Baptist in Friday’s semifinals at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

In Saturday’s women’s game, Grand Valley State established itself from the opening tip, scoring eight consecutive points before IUP could blink.

The Lakers continually beat IUP to loose balls and dominated the boards in the first half.

It didn’t stop after halftime.

“We’ve been in this moment before, so I think that was to our advantage a little bit,” said Kamin, voted the Elite Eight’s Most Outstanding Player. “We knew what it took. This is the first time for them in this position. Sometimes, that can be nerves.”

After outrebounding IUP, 20-12, in the first half and shooting 60.7% to the Crimson Hawks’ 32.1, Grand Valley State finished the game with a 35-28 edge on the glass.

The Lakers wound up at 62.2% shooting (28 for 45), whereas IUP finished at 31.1% (19 for 61).

“They’re taller and lankier across the board,” IUP’s Maggio said. “We were a little worn out today.”

IUP fell short of reaching a championship game twice previously, losing in back-to-back semifinals in 2018 and ’19.

“We wanted to make even more history,” Maggio said, “but we’ve got to be proud of ourselves for all our accomplishments. We did something nobody else here ever did.”

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