News Photo by Owen Kinzey Alpena Community College’s Allie Urlaub (10) drives the lane for a scoring attempt during the first half of a women’s basketball game on Wednesday at Park Arena.

ALPENA — The Alpena Community College women’s basketball team took on Kirtland Community College in a thrilling offensive game on Wednesday.

The Lumberjacks narrowly defeated the Firebirds, with a final score of 59-50.

ACC’s key to success was its ability to consistently score on offense while also beating Kirtland’s aggressive defense.

“They’re a very scrappy team and we struggled to cut to the ball all game,” ACC coach Cindy DeRocher said. “Once we got in a rhythm and starting shooting the shots we like to take, we were a much better basketball team.”

The game began with Kirtland taking a 1-0 lead, after drawing a foul and knocking down a free throw. The Lumberjacks fired right back with a three-pointer from Allie Urlaub.

That continuous scoring maintained itself throughout the rest of the quarter and the rest of the game. By the end of the first quarter, ACC had the 20-16 lead, which was dominantly led by Allie DeRocher and Urlaub.

Entering the second quarter, the offensive production slowed down for both sides. The Lumberjacks narrowly outscored the Firebirds 10-7 during the quarter.

Going into the break, ACC had a 30-23 lead over Kirtland.

“We were very happy going into halftime compared to the last game,” Cindy DeRocher said. “We were also really pleased with how the score was and how we were beating the press.”

Coming out of halftime, the Lumberjacks came out hot and played incredible defense.

ACC went on to score 16 points during the quarter, while only letting up eight points on defense. Urlaub and Jade Schultz carried the scoring during the quarter, both scoring six points. While Schultz and Urlaub led the scoring, the whole team stepped up on defense and forced several turnovers.

With a 46-31 lead, the Lumberjacks just needed to hold on to win the game. ACC did that, even though Kirtland’s press defense did cause trouble.

The Firebirds managed to win the quarter and even outscored ACC by seven points. Off the bench, Charlie Boyce led the team in scoring, with seven points during the quarter.

Alpena finished off the game with a 59-50 victory over Kirtland to help improve its record to 3-6 on the season.

“Their aggressiveness took us a little bit out of it at first, but we made a nice adjustment in the second half,” Cindy DeRocher said. “Coming out of half, we pressed them, and it was very effective and it really helped us win.”

Leading Alpena in scoring was Schultz, with 21 points, and Urlaub, with 15.

Kirtland’s leading scorers were Boyce and Paige Lofquist. Boyce had 11 and Lofquist had eight.

ACC plays Grand Rapids on Saturday.