Todd Rose | Daily Press Bay College's Brooke Mannor (21) passes the ball over Finlandia University's Katie Lundeen (44) Wednesday night in Escanaba.

ESCANABA — Despite a strong opening quarter, the Bay College Norse women’s basketball team (1-3) took a 69-50 loss Wednesday against the Finlandia University Lions (2-0) at Bay College.

“There’s an energy level, obviously, that you have to follow when you’re playing a basketball game,” said Norse head coach Matt Gregory. “I thought we did a very nice job that first quarter to match that energy. We knew they (Finlandia) were going to come out aggressive.

“We have got to definitely do a better job of just keeping the energy high through the 40 minutes of basketball.”

Bay took the lead early in the game’s opening quarter. Cierra Molina was fouled and went to the line, making both free throws to go up 2-0. Holly Wardynski made back-to-back shots, one for two and the other for three.

Between those, Finlandia’s Harlee Froberg scored to make it 7-2 in Bay’s favor.

The Lions took the lead 8-7 at the 3:10 mark of the first as Bailey Froberg drained back-to-back threes.

Again, it was Wardysnki — who led Bay in points with 14 — scoring a free throw followed by another two-point shot for the Norse to take the lead back 10-8.

“It’s great to see Holly Wardynski really step up into that leadership role,” said Gregory. “She’s been kind of our go-to person at times when times get rough. She’s very competitive and strong. She hates to lose. I love that mindset about her.”

When the first finished, it was the Lions ahead 17-15 after the two teams went tit for tat.

It was in the second quarter when Bay seemed to hit a roadblock.

Finlandia put up nine unanswered points before Lauryn Bloniarz (Perronville) put up Bay’s first two-point shot of the quarter almost a full minute after the halfway point of the quarter at 4:16.

Bloniarz was second in scoring for Bay with 12 points. According to Gregory, she is performing well after missing much of last season with health issues.

“She’s definitely stepped up,” he said. “She’s getting a lot of important minutes and doing very well.”

As the Lions extended their lead into halftime, 33-22, it looked like a Kennedy Englund (Rock) triple at the buzzer might give the Norse the momentum they’d need to start the second half. While that wouldn’t be the case, Gregory was happy with Englund’s performance.

“It’s awesome to see a freshman be able to step up and have that confidence to do the right things and try her hardest to knock down shots and make the right play, too,” he said. “That’s really good to see.”

In the third, the Norse were able to go shot-for-shot with the Lions — scoring 17 points compared to Finlandia’s 18 — but were unable to close the deficit.

In the fourth, Finlandia outscored Bay 18-11 to take the win 69-50.

Bay moves on to a busy week as they have four games in the next six days, ending with a home contest on Feb. 16 against Milwaukee Area Technical College.

Katie Lundeen scored 17 for Finlandia, making many of her shots down low. Mariah Austin had 12, including three 3’s.

Finlandia 17 16 18 18 — 69

Bay College 15 7 17 18 — 50

Finlandia: Lundeen 17, Austin 12, B. Froberg 9, Osterman 7, Jahfetson 7, Green 5, H. Froberg 4, Loman 4, Dalgord 4; F: 13; FT: 9-14; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: B. Froberg 3, Austin, Osterman, Jahfetson.

Bay College: Wardynski 14, Bloniarz 12, Englund 8, Boulton 6, Molina 5, Arsenault 3, Koski 2; F: 11; FT:5-9; Folued out: None; 3-point field goals: Wardynski 3, Englund 2, Molina, Arsenault.