SAGINAW, MI – The #19 Bay College Norse Women's Basketball Team (21-7, 13-0 MCCAA) won its 17th straight game on Saturday, clinching at least a share of the MCCAA North Conference Championship, beating Delta College (5-7, 6-13 MCCAA) 70-64 in Lower Michigan.

Jada Freudinger (FR, Norway, MI) had a monster game on defense taking five offensive foul charges while guarding the Pioneers' best player Hailee Jefferson (SO, Saginaw, MI). Freudinger also scored eight points and grabbed six rebounds while playing on a bum ankle that limited her all week in practice.

"She gave us five extra possessions, and that took them out of the game too, because that's why they fouled out," Norse Head Coach Todd Ciochetto said. "She literally won that game for us. Five charges? Being hurt? Why she's good is she's really, really smart, and she's really, really tough. That's tough to teach somebody, and she's got it. Without Jada, we don't win that game."

Freudinger had to leave the game early in the fourth quarter when she re-injured that already messed up ankle. How? By taking a charge.

"I think she landed on it and it kind of twisted it again," Freudinger said. "They said it's sprained, but I feel good. I think this team has come a long way. We've shown what we can do. We started playing more as a team. We know our roles now. We play with more intensity, and we just...play."

Indeed, they do, as they've won 17 games in a row since a miserable 4-7 start to the season that saw the Norse struggle with even subpar opponents. And on Saturday, Bay led just 29-26 at halftime as they struggled to make shots and missed five of their ten free throw attempts. Ciochetto says they didn't play well enough on defense, as Ja'Leah Griggs (FR, Saginaw, MI) went off for ten points and Carah McCrun (FR, Bay City, MI) added eight points.

"I've got to be honest, I was not happy at halftime, and Kennedy [Sproule] heard it all," Ciochetto said. "She missed every shot in the first half and she didn't guard anybody."

Sproule says she's learned to accept the criticism from Ciochetto and not take it personally.

"I'm not complaining about it because I know he wants me to get better, and it's helping me get better by him being hard on me," she said. "I've had good coaches in the past, but I don't think any of them has gotten quite as mad at me as Coach Todd has. He definitely critiques the little things, which I think has made me and the whole team a lot better."

The critiques at halftime certainly worked for Sproule. After scoring zero points in the first half, she drained eight three-pointers in the second half as the Pioneers struggled to do anything at all to contain her.

"She came out and hit some big shots to win us the game," Ciochetto said. "I don't care if she misses shots. But she has to hunt her shot."

A few of Sproule's threes came at big times as the Norse continued to hold off the Pioneers. One of them turned a 43-39 game into a 46-39 lead. Another gave the Norse a 53-43 lead early in the fourth quarter. And the dagger was a triple with 41.9 seconds left that turned a 66-62 lead into a 69-62 advantage that Delta could not overcome.

Besides Sproule's 24 points, Siena Lingle (FR, Marquette, MI) scored 18 points (nine of them in the first quarter), and Ashlee Burchette (FR, Minneapolis, MN) chipped in 17 points.

For Delta  Jefferson scored 18 points, making eight of her nine free throw attempts. She is listed as having an incredible 30 rebounds on the Delta College box score.

Griggs had a double-double of 19 points and ten rebounds, and McCrum also scored 19 points and Haven Vasold (FR, Freeland, MI) added eight points.

For the Norse, while they have won a portion of the conference title, they will need to beat #20 Mid Michigan again Tuesday night to take the championship and host the MCCAA state finals next weekend. Mid Michigan is 24-1 overall, 11-1 in MCCAA play, with their only loss all season coming to Bay College in Escanaba.

The Lakers will need to beat the Norse, and also beat winless North Central Michigan in a make-up game on Thursday night, to tie Bay for first place. In that scenario, Mid Michigan would win the tiebreaker and take the conference championship.

"We've got to play better," Ciochetto said. "I think we've played too many games where we can get away with things. We need Jada, obviously, and the trainer thinks she'll be able to play. Ashlee needs to be locked-in again, and Siena's got to play well."

Game time on Tuesday is set for 5:30.

Story courtesy of Jack Hall, RRN Sports