ALPENA – Effort is certainly not the problem for the Alpena Wildcats, 2-8, girl’s varsity basketball team, as it lost a road match-up with the Gaylord Blue Devils (5-3), Thursday, 57-12.

Gaylord had a noticeable size advantage over the Wildcats, and it presented problems throughout the game.

“They definitely had a size advantage on us,” Alpena coach Mark Toppi said.

The Blue Devils played full- court press defense from the opening tip and it gave Alpena headaches all night.

The score at halftime was 25-8, Gaylord and the Blue Devils never looked back.

Despite the score, Toppi liked his team’s effort in the first half.

“I felt we played well for the first two quarters,” Toppi said.

Offensively, Alpena struggled to score points, with only four points in the second half.

“We are fighting a lot of injuries now and I definitely think that affected our shooting tonight,” Toppi explained. “We are trying to get healthy so we can play at a faster pace.”

Alpena’s leading scorer was freshman guard Emma Kinsel with six points.

Bella Dickens, Emma Darga, and Hailey Powell contributed two points each for Alpena.

Despite the tough loss Toppi still has faith in his team and likes their effort.

“Tomorrow we will be back at it,” Toppi said. “The effort was there tonight. That’s our first step to becoming champions.”

Next up for the Wildcats is a match up with Cadillac, at home, Monday at 7 p.m.