Bay Women Earn Win To Keep Playoff Hopes Alive

Click the thumbnails for photos and videos, and to hear post-game comments from Coach Matt Gregory and Alaina Trudeau. Also click the AUDIO buttons to hear Claiere van Ginhoven's player spotlight interview.

GRAYLING---The Bay College Norse women's basketball team kept its playoff hopes alive Wednesday night in Lower Michigan, overwhelming the Kirtland Community College Firebirds, 65-38, in Grayling.

Gladstone's Alaina Trudeau led the way with four triples and 21 points.

The Norse remain tied with Alpena Community College for the final playoff spot, with two games left in the regular season. On a night where nearly every game in the Michigan Community College Athetic Association was postponed by the snowstorm, Alpena pulled away from North Central Michigan in the second half to keep pace with the Norse, 63-41.

"You just never know," Norse Coach Matt Gregory said. "We're getting close to March, and anything can happen. Anything's possible. We luckily came out of this one, too, and there's some things I feel we obviously need to step up around our defensive end, and definitely on our offensive decision-making. I just feel we need to focus and have a little more confidence and I think we did that a little better today."

This game was really never in doubt, as the Norse jumped to a 15-2 lead on a Tianna Taylor basket in the paint, a Trudeau triple, and seven points from Stephanie Frappy. Bay led, 18-7, after the first quarter, and 28-15 at halftime, but Gregory said they were sloppy.

"In that first half, we had eight turnovers," Gregory said. "They turned us over eight times in the first half. Against a really, really tough team, especially the one we're going to face on Saturday (Delta College), that eight turnovers could very well be 20 turnovers if we're not taking care of it and if we're not making the right plays. Instead of just kind of tossing it up in double-coverage and hoping that it's going to get there."

Trudeau agreed that the first half was stale, and she says that her team picked it up in the second half as the Norse outscored the Firebirds, 37-23, to end the game.

"We came out slow in the first half," Trudeau said. "We still were winning, but in the second half, we came out really strong and brought the energy. We moved the ball really well, and found the open girls. We knew that (first half) wasn't good enough for us. We knew we could bring more energy and get more open shots for us that we knew were there."

Besides Trudeau's 21 points, Alyssa Cretton added 15 points and seven rebounds, and Leah Allan chipped in 12 points and she also had seven rebounds.

Kirtland (2-16 overall, 2-10 MCCAA) was officially eliminated from playoff contention with the loss. The Firebirds were led by Kennedy Johnson's eleven points. Hannah Peel scored eight.

Bay College stayed alive yet again in the conference playoff chase, improving to 5-7 in league play (9-17 overall). The Norse ave a tough challenge to close the regular season, with Delta College (8-3, tied for second place) and Mid Michigan (11-0, first place) both coming to Escanaba on Saturday and Tuesday, respectively.

Saturday's game against Delta is set for 1:00 at the Bay College Gym.

The teams will be taking part in the MCCAA-wide "Hunger Games", where all of the teams will be collecting non-perishable food items to support local charities. In Bay College's case, the food and cash donations collected on Saturday will support the Escanaba Salvation Army.

In lieu of admission fees, people are asked to bring at least two non-perfishable food items.