The nationally ranked Raiders of Oakland Community College handed the GCC Samsons their first loss of the season on Saturday morning in Escanaba as part of the Bay Community College Winter Classic.  

The Raiders took an early 5-0 lead on the Samsons and never looked back.  Despite both teams playing on Friday and having little time to rest and recover, Oakland came out firing on all cylinders, while the Samsons had a slow start.  GCC finally got on the board after Emily Nelson hit a pair from the charity stripe with 6:55 left in the quarter. The Raiders continued to find seams in the GCC defense as they grew their lead to 13-4 midway through the quarter.  The Samsons went on a small run with a 3-pointer from Ida Bengtsson and a steal and layup from Nelson, but Oakland Community College withstood the GCC run and finished the quarter up 5, 18-13. 

The Samsons again tried to cut into the Raider's lead, and they got within 4 points (24-20) after a lay-up and 3-pointer from Nelson with 5:46 left in the quarter.  This forced Oakland to call a timeout to regroup.  The Raiders took over the remainder of the quarter and went up by 10 (32-22) at halftime. 

Hoping to cut into their lead early in the third quarter, the Samsons continued to scramble on defense and the Raiders just kept rolling.  By the end of the third quarter, the OCC lead had ballooned to 19, (50-31). The offensive struggles continued for GCC in the final quarter as they were only able to score six points in the quarter.  Oakland's physical play, aggressiveness and full-court pressure just wore down the Samsons and the Raiders came away with a 62-37 victory.  

Nelson led GCC with 19 points and shot 8-15 from the floor. She also tallied 6 rebounds and 6 blocks.  The Raiders were led by sharp-shooting Madison Landschoot who finished with 20 points, including 4 three-pointers.  

GCC, now 10-1 on the year, will head to Grand Rapids, MN on January 4th to take on the Vikings from Minnesota North College-Itasca.