Norse Women Rally Late To Beat Silver Lake 66-64

ESCANABA---The Bay College women's basketball team came back from eleven points down in the second half to beat the Silver Lake College Lakers, 66-64, Saturday in Escanaba. The win was the ninth straight for the Norse, and it was the toughest.

Silver Lake, a four-year school from Manitowoc, Wis., had only seven players, but were good at both ends of the court most of the afternoon. The Lakers had the lead for all but one time late in the second quarter, and at the very end of the game.

The Norse made several runs at the Lakers, but Silver Lake always semmed to have an answer. The Lakers led, 22-16, after the first quarter, but the Norse took a 30-29 lead midway through the second quarter. Silver Lake then went on an 11-2 run.

In the third quarter, Paige Welch drained a triple, Marissa Ackerman scored a basket, and she took a charge. A JuliAnn Wickman lay-up tied the game at 48-48.

But Silver Lake's Hailee Kotche nailed a three to end the third quarter, making it 51-48.

In the fourth quarter, Haley Trudell swished a triple to bring the Norse to within 56-53, but the Lakers' tallest player, Paige Boden, got a basket and a foul shot to make it 59-53.

Things turned when Boden fouled out, and later, Angie Kudek also fouled out, leaving the Lakers with only five players for the final few minutes of the game.

Still, Silver Lake had the lead in the final minute before Trudell nailed a spot-up triple to tie the game with 35 seconds to play. The Norse played tight defense, and as the Lakers ran out of time on the shot clock, Jordan Kraemer got the steal with 4.3 seconds left.

After a time out, the play went to Kraemer, who drove inside and was fouled with 0.3 secons to play. She calmly sank both free throws to break the 64-64 tie.

Kraemer ended up with 16 points, shooting just 4-for-14 from the field, but making eight of her ten free throws. Wickman came off the bench for 13 points.. Paige Welch nailed a couple of triples and finished with seven points and six rebounds.

Keshia Davis led the Norse with nine rebounds.

For Silver Lake (4-9), Kotche had 13 points and 15 rebounds. Boden fouled out with 17 points, and Kudik fouled out with ten piints. Tasha Rabe scored eleven points.

Bay College (12-5) will be on the road for three games in three nights. The Norse will play Kennedy-King College in Chicago on Tuesday, Bryant & Stratton College in Milwaukee on Wednesday, and UW-Waukesha in suburban Milwaukee on Thursday.

All three games will be broadcast on mavericl 106.3 and radioresultsnetwork.com.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos taken by Nate Belleville. Also, listen to post-game comments from Trudell, Wickman, and Coach Rob Robinson.

Amd hear a replay of the final minute of the game, and a Norse baseball interview with Coach Mike Pankow and player Mason Korhonen.