ALPENA, MI – The Bay College Norse Women's Basketball Team (7-13) was unable to overcome a slow start and fell on the road to the Alpena Community College Lumberjacks (9-11) by a final score of 49-43.
The story of the game revolves around the sluggish start from the Norse. Bay opened the game with the lead off of a Madison Olsen (SO, St. Ignace, MI) jumper, but the offense would stagnate from there. Their next field goal would be a Cheveney Koski (SO, Rock, MI) jumper with under a minute to play in the first quarter.
Bay trailed 14-7 heading into the second and were not able to get their offense on track. They went scoreless for over six minutes of play, allowing Alpena to build a double-digit lead even though the home team was not having a strong shooting afternoon either. The Lumberjacks carried a 27-13 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Norse shot an abysmal 19.2% in the first half, and missed on all 13 of their three-point attempts. Alpena was slightly better, hitting on eight of 37 from the floor and three of 13 from behind the arc. The Norse got just four attempts from free throw, hitting three of them, while Alpena hit eight of nine attempts. Bay was credited with nine turnovers, while the home team had just three.
The Norse offense found itself in the third, and they were able to close the gap. After falling behind 33-19, Bay's Tiana Taylor (FR, Gwinn, MI) sparked a run. She knocked down a jumper, spilt a pair of free throws, and then was fouled as she finished another shot at the rim, sinking that free throw to cut the lead to eight. On the ensuing possession Andie Arsenault (FR, Hermansville, MI) drilled a shot from behind the three-point arc to cut the lead to five.
Alpena slowed the Norse comeback in the fourth quarter. They eventually built their lead to as many as 14 in the final minutes of the game and looked as though they were going to cruise to victory. Bay proved to have some fight left in them in the final minutes.
With just over 90 seconds remaining Alyssa Cretton (FR, Niagara, WI) scored a basket cutting the lead to nine. After the Norse forced a turnover Kennedy Englund (SO, Rock, MI) cut the lead to six with a three-pointer.
With just over 20 seconds remaining the Norse sent Alpena to the charity stripe and the move paid off, as they missed giving Bay another opportunity to close the gap. The Norse were unable to do so, and the clock ran out on the last-ditch effort, resulting in a road loss for Bay.
Taylor paced the Norse with 12 points off the bench, and her strong afternoon came with a five of seven effort from the floor and eight rebounds. Olsen grabbed seven rebounds for Bay.
Alpena had three different players score 12 points apiece. Allison DeRocher (FR, Ossineke, MI), Mollie Girard (SO, Alpena, MI), and Jade Schultz (SO, Alpena, MI) led the attack. DeRocher grabbed 13 rebounds to record a double-double.
The Norse will celebrate the achievements of their sophomore class with their last scheduled home game of the regular season on Tuesday evening. The Finlandia Lions have been added to the schedule and will be ready for a 6 pm tip. The game is a rematch from January 29 at Finlandia, a game the Lions won 64-44.