Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, and to hear post-game comments from Coach Matt Gregory and Claire Vanginhoven. Also click to hear student manager Victoria Paquin's halftime interview.

ESCANABA---The Bay College Norse women's basketball team broke a seven-game losing streak Wednesday night by beating North Central Michigan College, 58-52, at the Bay College Gym. The Norse went on a 13-0 run to start the third quarter to build a 50-33 lead, then withstood an offensive dry spell in the fourth quarter to get the win.

“It turned out to be a little closer than I wanted it to,” Norse Coach Matt Gregory said. “At least we were on the right side of the win-loss category on this one. We talked about at halftime that I was kind of a shootout (37-33 at the half). They shot the ball incredible in the first half. We knew that we had to come out there and it was the first five minutes that was going to dictate how this game was going to go.”

Gladstone native Claire Vanginhoven had the hot hand in the first half, nailing five three-point baskets to help the Norse to take that lead at the break. Then, she switched her focus in the second half after Gregory's halftime talk.

“I tried to step up on defense a little bit,” Vanginhoven said. “We got the win, so it was worth it. Just had to bring the energy, and today, we brought the energy. I definitely think the fans helped. We didn't have those fans in the away games, so the fans definitely helped, cheering us on.”

Dozens of high school basketball players, including the boys and girls teams from Vanginhoven's alma mater, showed up on High School Basketball Appreciation Night, where they were given free tickets to see what local college basketball is all about.

And they had a lot to see in the first half when Vanginhoven jacked those five triples, Tianna Taylor of Gwinn scored twice inside the paint, and Kassidy Roll of Bark River-Harris also scored twice inside. But the Timberwolves, a first-year basketball program from Petoskey, kept pace, as Caley Zukowski nailed three triples and Sydney Mann chipped in a pair of long shots.

But things dried up for the visitors as the Norse went on that 13-0 run in the third quarter to take a 50-33 lead. Alyssa Crettom scored twice, Roll added four more points, and Vanginhoven nailed her sixth triple of the night during that spurt.

The fourth quarter was not kind to either offense. Neither team scored a single point in the first 6:17 of that quarter. Finally, the Timberwolves made one last push, with a Mann triple and a free throw bringing them to within 56-50 with 1:56 left in the game.

The Norse effectively put the game away by finding a wide-open Taylor on the baseline, and she made no mistake wit a layup to seal the team's first win in more than a month.

“They know they didn't play 40 minutes of their best basketball,” Gregory said of his players. “But they played just enough to squeak by, and hold on to one. I'm not going to give it back, that's for sure.”

Vanginhoven led the way with 20 points for the Norse, with Cretton adding 12 points and five assists. Taylor and Roll both chipped in eight points, and Taylor led the way with six rebounds.

NCMC outrebounded Bay, 43-33, including a 17-7 edge on the offensive glass. But the Timberwolves made only eight of their 15 free throw attempts, while Bay was 7-for-8.

Zukowski led the Timberwolves (3-10 overall, 0-2 MCCAA) with a double-double of 17 points and ten rebounds. Mann contributed twelve points and Alyssa Thompson scored eleven points,

Bay College (5-11 overall, 1-1 MCCAA) will stay home and face Muskegon Community College Saturday afternoon at 1:00. The Jayawks will come to Escanaba after suffering a heartbreaking 68-67 loss to Delta College Wednesday night in Saginaw. Muskegon is 10-5 overall and 1-1 in the MCCAA. Saturday's game will be broadcast live on Maverick 106.3 FM and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.