Bay Ladies Can't Catch Finlandia In Home Opener

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ESCANABA---The Bay College Norse women's basketball team lost its home opener Wednesday night to Finlandia University, 69-50, in Escanaba. They got off to a good start early in the game, but just like in a couple of earlier conteats, a rough second quarter did them in.

"I thought we did pretty well to jump out in the first quarter, and we got some decent looks," Norse Coach Matt Gregory said. "The confidence was built up pretty high. But we just need to learn how to dial it in a little bit more for that second quarter. We haven't been playing entirely well in that second quarter.

"Shots are not falling, or just the smallest mistakes. We've got to find a way to go to our strongest players and set up some plays to get us going. It will be back to the drawing board to find a way to gey us out of that second quarter slump."

Bay led for most of the first quarter, as Holly Wardynski scored eight early points. A deep three-pointer from Cierra Molina put the Norse up 13-11, but that would be the last lead they would enjoy on the evening.

Nine different players scored for Coach Mariah Dunham's Lions in the first half as they took a 17-15 lead after one quarter and outscored the Norse, 16-4, before Bay's Kennedy Englund beat the buzzer with a triple to cut the deficit to 33-22 at halftime.

Finlandia center Katie Lundeen was too much for the Norse to handle, eespcially in the third quarter, when she scored four baskets. She ended up shooting 8-for-10 from the floor and led the Lions (2-0) with 17 points.

"I don't really care how big and strong someone is, if we're not boxing out, we're never going to get those opportunities to actually get a (foul) call," Gregory said. "She's a tough player and they found ways to get the ball to her inside. She was scoring from inside the paint, and we've got to take that away from her, and make sure she has bad angles, at least tough shots to make. But overall, our goal is to not let them get the ball into the paint, and I thought they were able to do that pretty easily tonight."

Bay fell behind by 19 points as Ishpeming graduate Mariah Austin scored twice and Carsyn Osterman had a triple and a driviing basket. The Norse closed to within 51-39 on a Wardynski triple, plus an "and-one" basket, but never could get closer.

Bark River-Harris graduate Lauryn Bloniarz got open a few times in the paint and scored 12 points for the Norse. She also grabbed six rebounds. But the rest of the Norse tean managed only a combined 11 rebounds, as Finlandia won the battle on the glass, 29-17.

Wardynski ended up leading Bay in scoring with 14 points.

Lundeen had 17 points and five rebounds for the Lions, and Osterman had seven boards and four assists to go along with her 12 points. Bailey Froberg made three triples for nine points.

It was a homecoming for Norse graduate Brooke Dalgord. The Big Bay deNoc graduate played two years at Bay, and is finishing her college career at Finlandia, which is a four-year NCAA school. Dalgord scored four points and played 16 minutes.

For the Norse, Englund had eight points on a pair of triples.

Bay College fell to 1-3 on the season. The ladies will board a bus on Thursday for a long road trip to Chicago, where they will play three games on back-to-back-t0-back days. The first game is Friday against Triton College, which beat the Norse by 24 last month. Game time is 6:00 ET/5:00 CT. It will be broadcast on FM-106.3 and www.radioresultsnetwork.com.