ROUGH SUNDAY: Lady Norse Lose To #15 Morton
Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos. Also click the AUDIO buttons to hear Alyssa Cretton's player spotlight interview and Coach Matt Gregory post-game comments.
IRONWOOD---The Bay College Norse women’s basketball team ran into a tough opponent on Sunday as the Lindquist Classic wrapped up at Gogebic Community College in Ironwood.
The Norse fell behind 13-0 and lost to 15th-ranked Morton (Illinois) College, 84-38, to end their three game winning streak.
“I knew exactly what they were going to do and it just came down to a lot of hustle plays, and (not) getting back on D, and just being a little quicker and more reactive, as well as more enduranced,” Norse Coach Matt Gregory said. “It doesn’t help our cause going to halftime shooting 3-of-26 (and no two point baskets), having some decent down-low looks and just not being able to get them to fall.”
After Morton got five quick points from Dylan Van Fleet and back-to-back triples from Tadriana Heard, the Norse finally got on the board when Andie Arsenault swished a triple from the left wing to make it 13-3. But the Panthers scored nine more points and led, 22-3, after the first quarter.
Heard nailed two more triples in the second quarter and Mia Simpson scored eight points to expand the Morton lead to 43-13 at halftime.
In the second half, the Norse worked on their offensive plays and got a pair of triples from Kennedy Englund and three inside baskets from Tianna Taylor, but the winning streak was over.
“They pressure the basketball and they move it very, very quick in their 1-1-3, and their rotations are obviously spot-on where they want to be,” Gregory added. “Getting back on D is a huge part of the game, and we needed to be able to find their shooters early, but within a couple of passes or so, their shots were going up already, and we have to make sure that we’re close enough and recognizing that.”
Taylor was Bay’s leading scorer with nine points. Chevy Koski added eight points and she led with six rebounds.
Van Fleet led Morton (7-2) with 17 points and nine rebounds. Heard had 14 points and ten boards. Simpson contributed 16 points.
“I don’t care what the score says and I don’t care if they would’ve beat us by 100, we needed to work on some things and we needed to get some people with some time and experience,” Gregory said. “That’s going to make us a better overall team if we do focus on those things.”
Bay (5-3) travels to Metro Detroit next weekend to face Macomb Community College on Friday and Oakland Community College on Saturday. Both games will be broadcast live on WGMV-FM (Maverick 106.3) and on-line at www.radioresultsnetwork.com.
