Austin Hemmingson

ESCANABA — It wasn’t supposed to end like this for the Bay College women’s basketball team.

Not like this. Not against that team. Not on your home court. Not on a 3-pointer from at least two feet behind the 3-point line.

This team has come too far and fought through too much adversity to be bounced in its first playoff game against Gogebic Community College — a team the Norse has owned for the last three years.

The opportunity to host the Region 13 Championship game Sunday was there. The opportunity to host all the way until the NJCAA national tournament was there.

And now it’s gone.

“Things were going pretty well for Gogebic tonight,” Norse coach Matt Gregory said after the emotional loss. “They shot the ball incredibly well and they came to play. Hats off to them. We did our best to step up and compete, and I thought the girls did that. It just came down to that shot at the end.”

The loss probably stung more for Gregory than just your average coach. Gregory, who’s served as an assistant coach for the men and women’s programs for the past three seasons, took over as head coach five games ago after Rob Robinson was let go for undisclosed reasons.

Every player on Bay’s team loved Robinson. He was let go for reasons out of their control, and it hit hard when they were suddenly without their head coach in early February. Robinson recruited these players and had the program moving in the right direction. He finished with a 35-17 record in two seasons and landed the Norse a berth in the Region 13 Championship game a year ago.

When he was let go, a big part of the team was gone. At Bay’s first game without him against Bryant & Stratton, the players wore shirts reading, “Control what we can control.”

According to freshman forward Madison Olsen, that’s what he always said at practice and every game.

These players loved him and were vocal in showing their support.

So, it was tough for Gregory to suddenly step in and try to keep the program moving in the right direction. He acknowledged he felt the pressure.

“I’ve been on the job for about three weeks and I’ve pushed myself to plan and do a lot more in that leadership role to serve these ladies the best that I can do,” he said before Wednesday’s loss to Gogebic.

It was an unfair position for him to be in, and it was an unfair position the players were put in.

Before I go any further, let me make myself very clear — I do not root for teams or individual players when I cover games. My job is to be completely unbiased, go in with a clear head, and cover the game the way it’s supposed to be covered.

Sure, it’s nice to see our local athletes succeed. Getting to write about it is pretty cool, too. But on the same token, when a local team gets bounced from the playoffs, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t free up my schedule.

The reason I said this ahead of time is because I genuinely felt bad for the Bay College women last night. I was actually happy for the Samsons to finally see them pull through against the Norse, but I felt bad for Bay’s players after they walked off the court.

I don’t think people fully understand what it’s like being a student-athlete these days. When you commit to go to a school — especially when the main reason you go there is for a sport like basketball and wanting to play for a specific coach who took the time to recruit you — it’s a big, life-changing decision.

These players had to deal with a gut punch when they lost Robinson. But they didn’t quit, they didn’t throw a fit, they kept working hard each and every day to represent the school well, and they fought until the bitter end of another long season.

Bay’s crowd gave the women a nice ovation as they walked off the court last night, showing their appreciation for what they did this season.

They controlled what they could control, and they should be proud of that.

I know coach Robinson would be.