Second half dooms Lady Samsons

IRONWOOD - The Gogebic Community College Lady Samsons lost their chance to start the young season at 3-1 when a comfortable half-time lead slipped away and they fell to Madison College 69-67 on Saturday in the Tri State Classic.

Gogebic built a 38-30 half-time lead and at one point in the half held a 34-22 advantage. The Lady Samsons appeared to be in control of the contest. But just under the surface, there was trouble brewing.

"We played well at times in the first half and in the second half we didn't play bad, but we struggled to score," GCC coach Mark Movrich said.

Out-scored 39-29 in the second half, Movrich was very honest and upset about what transpired in the game, especially in the final 20 minutes.

"Foul trouble didn't help us," Movrich said. "But during the course of the game, we had some girls quitting with their actions. The loss is disappointing because that's the worse thing you can do is quit on your teammates. It's not fair to those girls busting their butts and working hard. I thought we took a giant step forward in Friday night's win, but we took a step backwards today."

Madison College coach Jessica Pelzel felt it was a game of "two halves."

"In the first half, nothing fell for us," Pelzel said. "We had no rhythm on offense and missed a lot of short shots. We were down eight at half and it could have been worse. In the second half, we played good D and defense sparked us. Defense dictated our offense. It was a very physical game and it was hard to adjust to, because they call games a lot closer down by us. But I was real happy with the way the girls adjusted."

The game started with both teams shooting coldly from the field. But Ale Kohegyi got GCC rolling at the 16:56 mark when she drained a 3 from the right corner. She followed that up with a scoring drive between two defenders and then Brittni Kisul scored when Gogebic broke the the Wolfpack Women's full-court press.

The Lady Samsons led 7-4 with 15:08 remaining in the half.

Gogebic's Jourdan Baldwin, a freshman from Kenosha, Wis. who is as quick as a hiccup, made a steal that led to a strong put-back by Tierra Sanders and then made a sharp pass to Sarah Trudgeon as she ran the baseline and scored and made a foul shot. That put GCC up 17-10 with 11:10 left.

"Trudgeon had a tremendous all-round game and handled the ball a lot," Movrich said. "Tierra came off the bench and scored in double figures (16 pts.) with 11 rebounds. I'm trying to play her and Brittni together."

First half statistics showed there seemed to be a lid on the basket for Madison College. GCC shot 15-34 (44.1%) on field goals and two of four (50%) on 3-pointers. Madison College's shooting was anemic as they made only 10-35 (28.6%) and 1-8 (12.5%) on triples.

Momentum quickly swung Madison College's way in the second half. Jenna Endres buried a 3 from the right wing, but Kohegyi and Sanders quickly answered back, putting Gogebic ahead 42-35.

But Madison College kept whittling away at GCC's lead and when Kelly Calhoun made a hard dribble-drive to the basket and scored, the Wolfpack Women grabbed a 44-43 with 15:22 remaining.

At the 14:51 mark, Baldwin sank two free-throws as the lead changed back to the green and white at 45- 44. But shortly after, Baldwin picked up her fourth and fifth personal fouls and was gone.

And Madison College's shooting was heating up. Calhoun canned a right wing 3 and after GCC's Darian Vinkemeier made a nice scoring drive, Endres was back with a top-of-the key 3, putting Madison up 50-47 with 12:29 left in the game.

The Lady Samsons looked to rally when Trudgeon splashed a 3 with 8:04 left and Kisul took a long baseball-type pass in stride and her basket regained the lead for GCC at 62-60 at the 5:08 mark.

But shortly after, the Lady Samsons lost Sam Ofstad and Kisul to fouls. Losing those two (plus Baldwin) deprived Gogebic of a lot of play-making and scoring coming down the stretch.

Madison College increased its advantage to 66-62, but Korrie Trier made it interesting with two foul shots that narrowed the lead to 66-64 with 24.4 seconds left.

The Lady Samsons were forced to foul after Madison College broke their press and their converted free throws sealed the deal. Vinkemeier buried a triple with 1.4 seconds left, but it was too little, too late.

Even with the comeback win, Pelzel said the Lady Samsons impressed her.

"They will be good," Pelzel said. "They could have a very strong team."

Madison College was led by Taylor Nelson's 20-points, who made 11-14 free-throws.

Sanders topped Gogebic's scoring with 16-points, while Kohegyi closely followed with 15. Vinkemeier tossed in 11-points and Trudgeon contributed 10.

"It was a nice thing to see four girls in double figures, that's good balanced scoring," Movrich said.

The Lady Samsons (2-2) will host Fond du Lac Tribal Community College from Cloquet, Minn. on Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Madison College - Kelly Calhoun 10, Jenna Endres 8, Mandi Sargent 6, Kaitlyn Kast 9, Taylor Nelson 20, Megan Petty 10, Sydney Harms 4. FTs: 21-30, Fouls: 15, Fouled out: none. 3-pointers: Jenna Endres 2, Kaitlyn Kast 1, Taylor Nelson 1.

Gogebic - Darian Vinkemeier 11, Ale Kohegyi 15, Korrie Trier 2, Jourdan Baldwin 2, Samantha Ofstad 3, Sarah Trudgeon 10, Brittni Kisul 8, Tierra Sanders 16. FTs: 12-21, Fouls: 23, Fouled out: Jourdan Baldwin, Sam Ofstad, Brittni Kisul. 3-pointers: Darian Vinkemeier 1, Ale Kohegyi 3,Sarah Trudgeon 1.