Kraemer's 27 Not Enough For Bay Women In Iowa

MASON CITY, Iowa---Jordan Kraemer scored 27 points but the Bay College Norse women's basketball team lost to Ellsworth Community College, 61-44, Friday afternoon in Mason City, Iowa. The Norse trailed by just six points at halftime but were outscored 16-4 during the first eight minutes of the third quarter and could not rally.

Bay College has just seven women on the active roster, and that was down to six when Justice Kinnunen fouled out early in the third quarter. It was a tiring game for the Norse, who played an emotional opening game Wednesday night then boarded a bus on Thursday for the long trip to this tournament at North Iowa Area Community College.

"When you have 30 turnovers, you're not going to win any games," Bay College Coach Rae Drake, Jr. said. "I think the girls understand that their fundamentals aren't all there, and it's my job to teach them. Obviously, I need to work with them harder so we can get better."

Bay was outrebounded 51-28 and had just two offensive rebounds all night long.

"We dribbled the ball way too much tonight," Drake said. "I was a little disappointed in that. We got real stagnant, and tried to get too individual."

The Lady Norse had a 7-4 lead in the first quarter, but the Panthers had five different players score in the rest of the period and led, 16-11, after the first ten minutes.

The game didn't have much flow, with lots of turnovers both ways, and it was 27-21 at the half.

The third quarter is where the game turned, as Emily Ferrier, one of two Ellsworth women from Australia, nailed a threepointer and a long two. She led the Panthers with 14 points. Fellow Aussie Tayla Nulty also hit two triples and had ten points.

For Bay (1-1), Kraemer led the way with 27 points and nine rebounds. Caitlyn Hewitt had a pair of triples 15 seconds apart late in the third quarter for her six points, and Paige Welch had five points.

"We cut it to ten with five minutes to go, and we had our opportunities when we were trapping (on defense)," Drake said. "The ball was there, but we didn't go and intercept it. We just didn't move to get the ball. If we could've got it down to single digits, I thought we would have had a chance to win."

Bay College faces the host North Iowa Area Community College Trojans on Saturday. Tip-off is 4:00 ET/3:00 CT. The game will be broadcast live on WMXG-FM (Maverick 106.3), and on-line at www.radioresultsnetwork.com.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see videos, and listen to a player spotlight interview with Kinnunen.