By PAUL PETERSON

Special to the Globe

HANCOCK -- After a sluggish first half between the Gogebic Community College and Finlandia University women's basketball teams Wednesday night, something had to happen.

Unfortunately for the Lady Samsons, that something was a 58-point explosion by the Lady Lions.

"They (Lions) put a lot of defensive pressure on us in the second half and we didn't handle it very well," said GCC coach Dennis Mackey after a 77-59 defeat at Paavo Nurmi Gym. "That turned the game around."

Locked in a 19-19 game at intermission, Finlandia went to its inside presence, 6-foot-3 center Brooke Sirard. She keyed a 14-3 run to begin the second half and FU was in command for good with a 33-22 lead.

"We challenged the girls to play with more intensity in the second half," said Lions' skipper Steve Nordstrom. "And we told Brooke (Sirard) that she could dominate."

Sirard did just that, scoring 15 of her game-high 22 markers in the second half.

Mackey said while Sirard was one of the main differences, Finlandia freshman point guard Kathryn Holsworth was a big thorn in the side of his team.

"She (Holsworth) makes a lot of things happen for them," Mackey said. "She's tough on defense and makes good decisions with the ball."

For the record, the 5-3 Holsworth had seven points, four rebounds, six steals and six assists.

GCC, 13-9, led most of the desultory opening half as Janey Routheaux showed the way. The Lady Samsons held a 17-13 lead late in the half before FU rallied for the deadlock at intermission.

After Finlandia went up by as many as 16 points in the second half, GCC rallied back to make it 57-47 with eight minutes left. Baskets by Jessica Koski and Trisha Barney hoisted the lead back to 61-47, however.

Routheaux totaled 18 points and four assists for the losers, while Nichole Mazurek added 17 points and four steals.

Sirard's 22 points led FU, now 12-11, but Koski had a big game with 18 points and game-high 17 rebounds.

Gogebic Community College -- Leslie Haapoja 0 0 0 2-0, Nicole Rosga 1 0 5 1-7, Janey Routheaux 6 1 3 0-18, Nichole Mazurek 4 2 3 0-17, Kristen Ruppe 1 0 1 4-3, Allison Coss 1 1 0 1-5, Andrea Harrington 1 0 2 2-4, Megan Tucker 0 0 0 1-0, Carly Levra 1 0 3 2-5. Totals: 15-40 4-9 17-23 13 59.

Finlandia University -- Jessica Koski 6 1 3 3-18, Kathryn Holsworth 3 0 1 2-7, Brooke Sirard 9 0 4 3-22, Kristina Nikkonen 2 1 2 2-9, Brigitte LaPointe 0 1 0 1-3, Kate Rogers 1 0 0 3-2, Trisha Barney 1 0 0 1-2, Melanie Babcock 0 1 0 1-3, Laura Peterson 0 0 0 1-0, Crystal Vivian 2 1 2 1-9. Totals: 25-60 5-13 12-15 18 77.

Halftime: GCC 19, FU 19.

Rebounding: GCC 31 (Ruppe 6); FU 46 (Koski 17).