Click the thumbnails to see photos and video highlights, and to hear post-game comments from Coach Matt Gregory. Also click the AUDIO button to hear Alyssa Cretton's player spotlight interview.

MT. PLEASANT, Mich.---The Bay College Norse women's basketball team ran into a buzzsaw on Saturday as they took on the first-place Mid Michigan College Lakers in a MCCAA contest. The Norse fell behind early and wound up losing, 87-42.

Bay trailed, 19-5, late in the first quarter, but closed to within 24-16 midway through the second quarter after Alyssa Cretton got an “and-one” basket and foul.

Even though the Lakers finished the half on an 18-5 run under a barrage of triples from Jade Kauffman, Norse Coach Matt Gregory was encouraged by his team's play for the first 13 minutes of the game.

“We did some decent things and were really moving our feet on defense,” he said. “Really talking and communicating. As we wanted to do. That was a goal of ours. They went to the free throw line one time in that first half (only three times for the entire game). That's pretty good. But kudos to them for being able to shoot the ball pretty well, which we knew they would do.”

Kauffman was the main culprit, nailing nine three-point baskets, plus one long two-point jumper, with four of those coming in the second quarter.

“We don't do ourselves any favors when we are lost in transition defense and we leave two wide-open shooters (Kauffman and Bailey Vissman) back-to-back,” Gregory said. “That's enough momentum that helps for a team like this. When you let a team come down and shoot two straight uncontested three-point shots, especially the first-place shooting team in the conference, it's going to snowball for the rest of the game.”

It did. MMC ended up making 13 triples in the game (out of 35 attempts; 37%) and the Lakers shot just under 49 percent from the floor altogether (36-of-75).

For the Norse, Alyssa Cretton led the way again, with 21 points. She played nearly all 40 minutes as Bay took the court again with only seven healthy players. Tianna Taylor was tough inside, scoring ten points and pulling down a team-high six rebounds.

Bay College trailed, 42-21, at halftime, and was also outscored, 47-23, in the second half. Mid-Michigan improved to 18-3 overall and 7-0 in the MCCAA, firmly entrenched at the top of the North Division standings. They have a two-game lead over three different teams as we reach the halfway point of the conference season.

Besides Kauffman's 29 points, Olyvia Nededrhood added 15 points, Vissman contributed 13, and Terre'ya Moore chipped in ten points. The Lakers had 28 assists against 11 turnovers, and blocked seven Norse shots.

“I do give the girls props for working hard, and for staying healthy,” Gregory said. “That's our main goal every single game is to have seven players for the next game. I think we play very, very hard in some aspects, but at the end, when the game is out of hand, we just look at the ball, the ball's there, and we're not boxing out anymore. We can't have that. It's got to be all the time, no matter what, because we are trying to get better.”

Bay College fell to 6-15 overall, 2-5 in MCCAA play. The Norse are one game behind Alpena Community College for the fifth and final spot in the MCCAA conference tournament. Alpena currently holds the tiebreaker, but still has to visit Escanaba for a game later this month.

The Norse have a chance to make up that game, or at least keep pace, this Wednesday night as they travel to Petoskey to face North Central Michigan (0-7 MCCAA) while Alpena has a game on the road against Kirtland Community College (1-6 MCCAA).

“There's definitely fights at the top of the standings, and there's definitely tightening at the bottom of the standings,” Gregory said. “We're all kind of trying to find our best situation to be in at the end, and hopefully, in post-season play.”

The Bay College-North Central game starts at 5:30 Wednesday night and will be broadcast live on Maverick 106.3 FM and www.radioresultsnetwork.com.