News Photo by James Andersen Alpena’s Anne Archambeau, left, shoots during the first half of a women’s basketball game on Saturday at Park Arena. Defending her on the play is Wayne’s Jelani Shinn.

In her basketball career, Kendra Cole has made herself known as a go-to post player.

But on Saturday, Cole’s outside shooting skills paid off in a big way for the Alpena Community College women’s basketball team.

Cole hit six three-pointers and finished with 26 points as the Lumberjacks rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat Wayne Community College 68-56 at Park Arena.

After leading by as many as 10 points early in the second half, ACC (5-11, 4-7 MCCAA Eastern) found itself trailing Wayne late in the third quarter.

It was Cole who swung the momentum back ACC’s way for good. With the clock winding down in the third quarter, Rachael Barkley passed the ball to Cole who drained a trey to tie the game 42-42 at the buzzer.

Cole wasn’t done yet as she poured in 15 points in the fourth quarter including four triples. With the 6-foot sophomore leading the way, the Lumberjacks outscored the Wildcats 26-14 in the last 10 minutes.

“Kendra can shoot and she’s a good player. I just think in the league, me personally, I think she’s getting an unfair shake and there’s players bouncing off of her and grabbing her,” ACC coach Bobby Allen said. “By the same token, I make her play over it and it is what it is.”

After a third quarter rally where it briefly took the lead, Wayne had trouble keeping up with ACC down the stretch. Wayne rallied to within two with just over five minutes left, but couldn’t get shots to fall in the last few minutes.

“It feels good to win it. It’s the same thing as when we were down there. We were up by 19 and they came back,” Allen said. “We held our composure this time. The girls stayed with it and I’m proud of it.”

Both of Saturday’s games were held as part of ACC’s annual Hoops for Hope campaign to support breast cancer awareness and the Lumberjacks wore pink uniforms for the occasion.

ACC led 33-23 at halftime, but Wayne steadily rallied back and eventually took the lead. A triple from well beyond the arc by Jeshani Shinn made it 35-32 with 7:32 left and with 1:57 left a floater from Jelani Shinn gave the Wildcats a 38-36 lead. Wayne pushed its lead to six late in the period, but ACC answered with a pair of triples in the final 40 seconds. Morgan Allen drained one to cut Wayne’s lead to three before Cole’s game-tying shot.

“There was some stuff I said in the huddle that was for the girls’ ears only and they responded (in the fourth quarter),” Allen said. “I think when they responded they did a great job.”

Allen added 11 points for the Lumberjacks and Kailey Hunt and Alexis Smith chipped in with seven each. Of the 11 players on ACC’s roster, nine scored in Saturday’s win and Allen praised the efforts of players like Arielle Gamble and Eva Grobbel who came in and played important minutes. The two of them combined for six points.

The two teams traded buckets in the early going, but ACC pulled ahead 19-8 late in the first quarter as Wayne had trouble getting shots to fall. The Lumberjacks led 19-10 after one quarter and easily pulled ahead to a double digit lead in the second quarter as Wayne continued to struggle offensively. Too often the Wildcats settled for bad shots or turned the ball over.

Jeshani Shinn led Wayne with 21 points and Jeliani Shinn added 18, including a successful four-point play in the first quarter.

In addition to struggle just to get shots to fall, Wayne had trouble at the free throw line, going just 7-for-18, compared to ACC’s 15-for-29.

ACC will play at Oakland on Wednesday.

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ACC (68): A. Archambeau 1 1-2 3; K. Hunt 3 1-2 7; M. Allen 5 0-0 11; K. Huffman 1 1-2 4; A. Smith 2 3-6 7; K. Cole 7 6-11 26; E. Grobbel 2 0-0 4; B. Ellis 1 1-2 4; R. Barkley 0 0-2 0; A. Gamble 0 2-2 2.

WAYNE (56): Jel. Shinn 7 2-4 18; Jes. Shinn 8 3-6 21; C. Barlow 3 1-3 7; T. Smith 0 0-2 0; K. Coleman 3 1-3 7; S. Risby 1 0-0 3.