Alpena’s Jade Gray, center, attempts to score inside while being guarded by Traverse City West forward Aliah Diehl during the second half of a girls basketball game on Tuesday in Alpena.

ALPENA–The Alpena High girls basketball team’s rally efforts fell just short on Tuesday.

Allie Urlaub had 10 points, including a clutch three-pointer from the wing with four seconds left, but when the buzzer sounded, it was Traverse City West who walked away with a 43-40 win.

The Wildcats (3-7, 1-6 Big North Conference) trailed by 11 with just over six minutes remaining, but slowly and surely chipped away at West’s lead.

Alpena cut the lead to six with 1:50 left after a steal and score from Urlaub, and cut it to one in the waning seconds.

Ultimately, Alpena ran out of time as a half court heave at the buzzer fell well short of the basket.

“With about four minutes to go in the fourth, I just said, ‘Look, we’re down (11). You’ve got to work. Get a basket. Get a stop. Get a basket. Get a stop.'” Alpena coach Erin Andrews said. “We did that. We got a couple of big baskets and Allie Urlaub knocked down a three for a clutch play there.”

It was an impressive effort from the Wildcats, but came after a disappointing third quarter that left them trailing by double digits. Alpena trailed just 20-18 at halftime, but came out of the gate slow in the third quarter. The Wildcats missed their first eight shots and had trouble slowing down West’s inside-outside duo of Aliah Diehl and Megan Lautner.

“It was a rough start coming out of the half,” Andrews said. “That doesn’t happen to us very often.”

Diehl led all scorers with 22 points and Lautner added 13, connecting on short jumpers while Diehl went to work inside. The two of them combined for all of West’s 15 points in the third quarter and the Titans led 35-22 after 24 minutes.

“We struggled to find 33 (Lautner) on the floor and she just shot those little short corner jumps and she just put them in,” Andrews said.

In addition to double digits from Urlaub, the Wildcats had eight different players score on Tuesday. Allie DeRocher added eight points, Reese Wisniewski added seven and Avery Dubey had five.

Urlaub and Wisniewski each had a triple early in the fourth quarter, but baskets from Diehl kept West ahead with a double-digit lead. DeRocher scored midway through the period and added a free throw a short time later before Wisniewski scored again to make it 39-33 with 2:50 left.

Urlaub stole the ball and scored with 1:50 left and a pair of free throws from Alayna Trelfa with 57 seconds left cut West’s lead to four. Urlaub’s subsequent three-pointer cut the lead to one, but Diehl was then fouled and sank both shots to up West’s lead to three.

Alpena plays at Gaylord on Thursday.

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BOX SCORE: Field Goals Made/Free Throws Made/Free Throws Attempted/Total Points

TC WEST (43): A. Warren 1 0-0 3; E. Bohrer 2 0-0 5; A. Diehl 9 4-5 22; M. Lautner 5 3-4 13.

ALPENA (40): A. DeRocher 3 2-6 8; A. Urlaub 4 0-0 10; J. Gray 1 0-0 2; J. Leck 2 0-0 4; M. Wisniewski 1 0-0 2; R. Wisniewski 3 0-0 7; A. Dubey 1 3-3 5; A. Trelfa 0 2-2 2.