HANCOCK, MI - The Bay College Women's Basketball Team (4-9) ran into a hot Finlandia Lions (5-1) team on the road Wednesday night, falling by a score of 71-41.

"We had a game plan to stop a couple of their players from hurting us, and I think we did an OK job in some aspects of that," Norse Coach Matt Gregory said, "but obviously they shot the ball pretty well, and some people stepped up and definitely had some good offensive plays. We gave up 11 offensive rebounds in the first half. That's been our crutch all season. We have to do better at rebounding on the defensive end and valuing the basketball, and going there and getting it. There's just not the urgency that we need to get that rebound right now."

Nine of the Lions ten players scored as Finlandia closed its COVID-shortened season with a 5-1 record. They had a wide rebounding advantage (47-30), including eleven offensive rebounds in the first half. 

The Norse tried to keep pace with three-point shooting as Brooke Mannor (SO, Gwinn, MI) made two of them in the first quarter and Kennedy Englund (FR, Rock, MI) and Bree Arsenault (FR, Hermansville, MI) also hit triples. But despite that, Finlandia led 34-18 at halftime.

Katie Lundeen (JR, Maple, WI) was tough inside, scoring eight points, and she added eight rebounds. Olivia Green (FR, Haslett, MI) also went inside often, scoring nine points and adding five rebounds.

Bay College got a nice second half from Sandra Boulton (FR, Carney, MI), who scored eight points and pulled down four rebounds. Chevy Koski (FR, Rock, MI) added six points, including four of four from the foul line.

Lauryn Bloniarz (SO, Perronville, MI) and Holly Wardynski (SO, Ontonagon, MI) each added five rebounds for Bay.

The Norse will return to action on Sunday in Rochester, Minnesota, against the RCTC Yellow Jackets. The game starts at 1:00 ET.

Story and photo courtesy of Jack Hall, RRN Sports