The GCC Samsons continued their winning ways early in 2025 and defeated the Minnesota North College-Itasca Vikings 72-53 on Wednesday, January 15th in Ironwood, MI.
The Vikings took an early 4-2 lead, but once Sophomore Melissa DiGiorgio scored inside on a putback to tie the game, the Samsons never trailed again. GCC was on fire from beyond the 3-point arc in the opening quarter as they drilled 5-3 pointers and scored 29 points, which was their best quarter of the night. Sophomore Annabelle Besonen and Freshman Gracie Kleikamp both made two-3’s. The Vikings couldn’t match the initial offensive intensity from GCC and the Samsons went ahead 29-18 in the first quarter.
Itasca scored 5 straight points to begin the second quarter, but GCC Freshman Sydney Saari scored inside to end the temporary Samson drought. Behind aggressive play and scoring inside from DiGiorgio and Besonen’s constant pushing of the ball in the open court, the Samsons extended their lead to 40-27 at the media time out of the second quarter. A nice 3-point play inside from DiGiorgio and two late 3-pointers from fellow Sophomore Kate Borseth put GCC ahead 48-32 at halftime.
The Vikings scored inside to begin the third quarter, but GCC then went on a 9-0 run. This opened up the largest lead of the game for the Samsons as they went ahead 57-34 with 5:31 left in the quarter. GCC maintained the strong gap and went into the final quarter up 62-42.
The Samsons were outscored 11-10 in the final quarter as GCC began to foul and allow the Vikings to get as close as 12 points with three minutes left to play, but a two big 3-pointers from Saari in the final minutes helped to seal the 72-53 victory for GCC.
DiGiorgio led 4 Samsons who reached double figures. She finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds, while Saari had 15 points and 6 rebounds. Besonen added 13 points and 6 rebounds, while Borseth chipped in with 11 points. 8 of the 9 Samsons scored in the game.
