By Aidan McNamara
On Wednesday, Nov. 12, the Grand Rapids Community College women’s basketball team came out on top with a tremendous home-opening win against Alpena Community College.
This was the Raiders Home Opener, and the team came out strong with a final score of 101 to 55. This is also the first time the Raiders have scored over 100 points in a game in exactly 10 years. Postgame, Coach Dave Glazier said, “We were paying attention to our strengths and where they were giving us an advantage”.
During the first two quarters, the Raiders took a strong lead over the Lumberjacks with a score of 58 to 26 at halftime. They continued this momentum into the second half of the game, with lead scorer sophomore guard Sophia Wozniak scoring 21 of the Raiders 101 total points.
“I think it was good,” Wozniak said. “I’ve just been trying to play with pace more, been trying to get good looks to my teammates. So play the floor at both ends.” Wozniak was not the only star of the night as sophomore forward Averi Piot recorded the game’s only double-double, scoring 10 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, and three steals.
All 13 Raiders scored in last night’s game, contributing to the team’s historic offensive performance. On the defensive end, GRCC forced 34 Alpena turnovers and also 25 steals. The Raiders were able to capitalize on these offensive errors, turning them into 41 points. On the other side, the Raiders only turned the ball over 13 times, this being a season low on turnovers for the ladies.
Coach Glazier was extremely proud of his team, stating that “we are aggressive to a fault, and that’s what we want to be.”
The coach gave out some shout-outs to a few players, including sophomore guard Tianna Daye, who scored the second most points with 18, saying, “She’s steady, just kinda does it throughout the whole game.”
Four of the women scored double-digit points, with Tianna Daye scoring 18 points.
This game brings the Raiders to a record of 3-2. Their next game will be against Mott Community College in Flint on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 5:30 p.m.
Collegiate Reporter Gabe Amy contributed to this report.
