Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, and to hear Assistant Coach Paige Welch halftime interview.

LAKE WORTH, Fla.---The Bay College Norse women's basketball team battled hard Friday night in Florida before losing a tough one to the Palm Beach State College Panthers, 74-73, in overtime.

The Norse battled back from a 12-point deficit to take a brief lead late in the overtime period before giving up the go-ahead score with seven seconds to play. Bay College fell to 4-8 on the season with their seventh loss of the season by six points or less.

Bay trailed, 20-8, in the second quarter before finally finding rhythm at both ends of the court. The Norse had a hard time with the Panthers' leading scorer, Andrea Torres, who nailed three triples and scored twice inside the arch.

The Norse went on run to get within one point, but then struggled in the final minutes of the half, getting outscored, 12-3. So, the Panthers led at the half, 41-30.

Bay had a nice third quarter defensively, allowing just nine points, and the Norse came all the way back by scoring 20 points. Alyssa Cretton and Emma Rutter both attacked the basket, with Cretton scoring three times inside and Rutter scoring twice in the paint.

A Claire Vanginhoven triple helped as well, and we went to the fourth quarter tied at 50-50. The Norse dug another hole, however, getting outscored, 12-4, in the first six and a half minutes, to fall behind, 62-54. An offensive rebound and putback by Tamaya Patterson put the Norse in that eight-point hole with 3:21 left on the clock.

The Norse again came back. Cretton drove all the way to the basket and scored (after briefly bobbling the ball) to close it to within 62-58 with 2:46 to play. The defense continued to get stops, and finally, Emma Rutter went inside and scored with 1:09 left to bring the Norse to within 62-60. Bay eventually tied the game on a couple of Alaina Trudeau free throws, and got an offensive foul call in the final seconds.

That sent the game to overtime tied at 62-62. Torres hit a pull-up jumper to start the overtime period, and then Ashley Thompson knocked down a long two-pointer, giving the Panthers a 66-62 lead (with only four seconds on the shot clock) with 3:15 left.

The Norse trailed, 69-64, when Rutter went inside, faked, put it in, and got fouled. The three-point play closed the gap to 69-67, and after a Panther basket, Trudeau drained a triple from the left wing to bring Bay to within 71-70 with 57 seconds left on the clock.

Palm Beach State used its entire 30 seconds and could not score, so the Norse had a chance, and Rutter scored inside to give Bay its first lead at 73-72.

But with ten seconds left, the Panthers in-bounded the ball and got it to Patterson. She scored inside with seven seconds left in the overtime period to make it 74-73,

The Norse came up court, and Cretton went to the basket. She wasn't able to get a pass to one of the perimeter shooters as Coach Matt Gregory had called for, and she ended up winging up a shot that hit the side of the backboard. And that ended the game with another heartbreaking loss for the Norse.

Torres led Palm Beach State (8-5) with 25 points. Center Keri Cooper added eleven points and Daija Lopez also chipped in eleven points. Patterson and Ashley Thornton both added ten points as the Panthers had five players score in double figures.

Bay College (4-8) was led by Cretton's 26-point performance. Rutter and Trudeau both added 16 points. The Norse made 22-of-30 free throw attempts in the game, but missed a couple of big ones down the stretch. Palm Beach was 8-of-14 from the line.

The Norse finish their Florida trip on Saturday with a game against Catabwa Valley College of North Carolina. Game time is 5:00. It will be broadcast on FM-106.3 and on-line at www.radioresultsnetwork.com.