Feb. 16, 2022, Muskegon, Mich. – Grand Rapids Community College's basketball teams fell on the road to Muskegon Community College, 58-45 in the women's game and 88-81 in the men's match.
Muskegon's women's team jumped out to a 9-0 lead but GRCC’s Marlene Bussler knocked down her fourth thr3e-point shot of the first half to give her team a 23-22 lead. Bussler scored 18 of her 20 points before the break.
The Jayhawks opened up the second half on a 10-0 run and never looked back.
"Tough loss against a talented team on the road," Coach David Glazier said. "Though there were a couple opportunities for our kids to put their head down and quit. But as has been the case all year, this group fought. I might be most proud of this effort and how we will grow from it that any other game this season."
Grace Lodes just missed a triple-double with 10 points, 15 rebounds and nine blocked shots. Sally Merrill added 12 points.
The GRCC women are now 15-9 and 11-3, dropping them to fourth place in the conference.
In the men’s game, Ryel Daye nearly had a triple-double himself, with 22 points, 19 rebounds and 7 assists in the loss to the first-place Jayhawks.
Muskegon led by 27 points with 9:01 left in the game, but GRCC battled back. The team outscored Muskegon by 20 the rest of the way, but could not overcome the deficit.
The men's team record drops to 9-17 overall, 4-11 in the conference. MCC improved to 15-6 and 12-3.
"The guys really battled back and played well in the second half," Coach Joe Fox said. "Scoring 57 points in a half in a road game is a number that should be good enough to win a game. It's tough to beat good teams on the road, and even tougher when you dig a deficit like we did tonight. We have to execute better in the first half, and work to get stops to fuel our transition offense. That will be our main emphasis looking forward to Saturday, really locking in defensively."
Drew Moore led GRCC with 26 points, and Rico Wade chipped in with a career-high 20 off the bench. Wade hit five of the team's six made three-pointers.
The GRCC teams will be back at home for a Homecoming afternoon doubleheader on Feb. 19 against Kalamazoo Valley Community College.