Bay College Women Fall To 14th-Ranked Panthers

Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, hear Coach Matt Gregory's post-game comments, and listen to Holly Wardynski's player spotlight interview.

CICERO, Ill.---The Bay College women's basketball team fell behind early and never could mount a challenge on Saturday, losing to 14th ranked Morton College, 99-45, in suburban Chicago.

The undefeated Panthers beat the Norse for the second time in as many Saturdays, but unlike last week's loss, when Bay hung close until the middle of the second quarter, this one was never close. Morton College sank 17 three-point baskets, and it was spread around between seven different women.

"They knocked in a lot of tough buckets at times," Bay College Coach Matt Gregory said. "You try your best to contest those shots, but they had the ball going for them quite early. It's pretty easy to shoot in the gym when you get that quick lead and things are falling for you. It was just kind of the snowball effect after that."

Morton led, 29-10, after one quartter and 56-24 at halftime. The Norse got zero points from their guards in the first half, with Sandra Boulton and Lauryn Bloniarz each scoring ten points inside and Madison Olsen adding two buckets.

"The girls are obvoiously in a great mindset, they know what they need to do, and they say the right things," Gregory said. "We just have to do them. It's a lot different from saying than doing. It comes down to fighting, buying in, and doing those small things that we talked about (before the game)."

Boulton ended up with 15 points and Bloniarz scored 14. The Norse guards were held to a combined ten points in the contest.

Morton's top scorer, Tadriana Heard, who ran wild in last week's matchup, scored a relatively quiet 14 points this time. But she had plenty of help, getting 20 points and five triples from Kayla Briggs, 19 points from Dylan VanFleet, and 17 points from Franchescha Metz.

The Norse fell to 3-6 on the season and will travel further south on Sunday to face Kankakee Community College. Bay beat the 20th ranked Cavalieers in the season opener on a neutral court.

"We're going to be playing against a very good team that basically wants our number," Gregory said. "They probably remember that first game of the season where we stole one away. We've got to be prepared and bounce back from this unfortunate situation."

The game starts at 12:00 ET/11:00 CT and will br broadcast on Maverick 106.3 FM and radioresultsnetwork.com.