Miners sink Mountaineers 61-30

IRON MOUNTAIN -- The Negaunee Miners girls basketball team exploded for 31 points in the third quarter en route to a 61-30 victory on Thursday night at Mountaineer gym.

Negaunee, already holding a 22-14 advantage at intermission, outscored the Mountaineers by 25 points in the third quarter to grab a 53-20 lead to start the fourth.

"It was a strong defensive game in the first half by both teams," Iron Mountain coach Karen Ellis said. "(Emily) Gauthier and (Alyssa) Hill were a force on the inside that nearly shut down our inside game completely."

Ellis said her team started strongly in the decisive third quarter but committed some turnovers which Negaunee (7-4) turned into 3-pointers.

Ella Mason was the key offensive spark for Negaunee in the third and finished with a game-high 19 points.

"Mason came alive in the third and we weren't able to stop her like we did earlier in the game," Ellis said.

Emma Ellis and Annslee Runsat topped the Mountainers (2-6) with 11 points each.

Esky outguns Flivvers 57-34

ESCANABA -- After a first-quarter stalemate, the Escanaba Eskymos girls basketball team got its offense untracked and pulled away from Kingsford in a 57-34 Great Northern Conference contest on Thursday in Escanaba.

Leading 4-3 after the first quarter, the Eskymos (3-5) put up 16 points in the second frame of the varsity contest to take a 20-10 lead at halftime.

Mari Bink led Escanaba led all scorers with 19 points, including five 3-pointers. Kiera Maki had 11 and freshman Grayson LaMarche had a career-high of 10.

For the Flivvers, it was their first game in nine days and second since Dec. 20.

"I thought at the start of the game we did not execute well at all," Lorenzoni told the Escanaba Daily Press. "… We hadn't played in a while. We did have a game last week, but with the Christmas break and a lot of practice, we just seem rusty. It took us a while to get the cobwebs off."

The shaky start, Lorenzoni added, was compounded going into the second quarter. Despite coming up short, however, he was happy with the defensive play out of his players.

"Defensively, I thought we played well for the most part," Lorenzoni said. "I thought the effort was good. It's just a matter of making shots and executing our offense a little bit better."

Paige Olsen collected 14 for the Flivvers, while Abby Terrian scored eight and Laura Bracket added seven.

Nordics struggle in 23-19 defeat

FELCH -- Points were hard to come by when the Superior Central and North Dickinson boys basketball teams met on Thursday at Carl F. Lewin Gymnasium in Felch.

In the end, it was the Cougars who left with a 23-19 victory in the Skyline Central Conference matchup.

The Nordics (0-7) shot just 7 of 51 (14 percent) from the field in the varsity game.

"Defensively we were OK, but we really stubbed our toe on the offensive side of the ball," Nordics coach Chris Mattson said. "You're not going to beat anybody shooting 14 percent."

Superior Central (2-4) was led by Zach Frusti's seven points.

Nicholas Conery topped the Nordics with five, while Wyatt Glasheen and Steven Holmes added four each.