Norse Ladies Close Regular Season With 2-OT Loss

Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, hear Coach Matt Gregory's post-game comments, as well as Hannah Clark's player spotlight interview.

SOUTH HOLLAND, Ill.---The Bay College Norse women’s basketball team closed the regular season on Saturday with a heartbreaking loss to the South Suburban Chicago Bulldogs, 66-62, in double overtime.

The Norse had chances to win the game in the final seconds of regulation, and on the final play of the first overtime, but couldn’t hit the big shot.

“It was good to see the fight, toward the end of the game,” Norse Head Coach Matt Gregory said. “It’s tough to take. It is good to see positive fight. But we’ve got to have that fight from the beginning, right from the get-go. It just didn’t go in the favor that we would obviously would have hoped it to.”

Both teams had chances to win it at the end of regulation. But Andie Arsenault’s jumper missed with five seconds left, and then after a Bulldog timeout, the Norse locked down on defense and kept them from getting a shot off.

In overtime, the Bulldogs got a basket from Johniqua Smith to take a 57-55 lead, but Chevy Koski tied it up on a layup off a nice feed from Kennedy Englund to the baseline. Then, the Norse took the lead when Bree Arsenault stole the ball at half court and raced in for a lay-up, making it a 59-57 game.

But the Norse did not score on their next two possessions, and they put the Bulldogs on the foul line both times. Luckily, they missed two of the four free throws, so it was tied at 59. The Bulldogs had a chance to take the lead but threw the ball away, giving the Norse the opportunity with eleven seconds to play.

Gregory called a time out and drew up a play, but Kennedy’s potential game-winning shot was off target, sending the game into a second overtime.

In that second overtime, nothing went right for Bay.

South Suburban got a clutch triple from Samya Gardner and a rebound basket from Destiny Johnson as part of a 7-0 run that put the game out of reach.

Andie Arsenault made a triple with 33.3 seconds left to close to within 66-62, but the Norse could not get the defensive steal, and after 16 seconds ran off the clock, they fouled Destiny Hughes. She missed both free throws, but the Norse could not score at the other end, and Bay ended up with its seventh loss of the season by single digits.

“Kudos to the Bulldogs for coming out here on their Sophomore Night, and we knew they would come out here pretty confident and excited, and the home court advantage helps a little bit,” Gregory said. “But needless to say, we need to take care of a lot of things to get a lot better.”

Early on, Andie Arsenault was on fire, scoring 17 points in the first half. But the Norse struggled otherwise, and led just 24-23 at halftime. In the third quarter, the game was tied at 33-33 when Tianna Taylor scored three straight baskets inside to give the Norse their biggest lead of the day at 39-33.

But the Bulldogs turned that around with an 8-0 spurt, taking a 41-39 lead on a jumper by Karletta Rucker late in the third quarter. It was tight the rest of the way until the Bulldogs made the plays in that second overtime.

Gardner led South Suburban (7-18) with 15 points, and Demiah Hawkins had eight points and 15 rebounds. Rucker had 12 points and six boards, while Hughes and Smith both scored ten points. Johnson had nine points and 11 rebounds.

Andie Arsenault led Bay with 22 points while Taylor added 13 points. Koski chipped in nine points and ten rebounds.

Bay finishes its regular season with a 8-17 record, having played 20 of the 25 games away from home. They will finally play at home in their biggest game of the season, the NJCAA Region 13 Championship game next Sunday, against either United Tribes (ND) Technical College, or Dakota County-Bottineau (ND).

Those two teams will play Wednesday night in Bottineau.

“Hopefully, it starts clicking, because if it doesn’t, the season is pretty much done,” Gregory said. “And the girls don’t want to be done.”

Game time is 2:00 ET on Sunday. Tickets for it are available now on the Bay College web site.