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Girls roundup: Baraga clinches Copper Mountain Conference title

BARAGA — Watersmeet’s Bethany Baldwin became the new career leading scorer at Watersmeet Thursday night.

She scored 30 points in Watersmeet’s 82-37 loss to Baraga. That puts her at 1,368 points, eight ahead of Gertie McGeshick.

“Bethany had a lot of hard drives to the bucket to earn her 30 points, including quite a few coast-to-coast against their press,” Watersmeet coach Brent Besonen said.

Baraga clinched the Copper Mountain Conference title Thursday night.

Their win over Watersmeet or Ewen-Trout Creek’s loss to Dollar Bay Thursday night both would have clinched it on their own.

Baraga, the U.P.’s second-ranked Class D team, made things difficult for Watersmeet all night. Their aggressive, physical press made it tough to get down the court and the Nimrods often made mistakes even when they broke it.

“Coach (Keith) Willis definitely has his girls ready for a playoff run,” Besonen said. “They moved the ball faster than we could think tonight. They have a solid core of upperclassmen that have definitely put time into their games.

“I’m not happy about the fact that we didn’t run much of an offense tonight. We were panicking and throwing up ill-advised shots. I don’t think we passed the ball more than twice on a possession and that doesn’t create shots.”

Carsyn Osterman led Baraga (17-2, 14-1) with 26 points and six 3s.

“She’s a great shooter,” Besonen said.

Watersmeet (2-17, 1-14) hosts Ewen-Trout Creek tonight.

Baraga opens district play Monday at Lake Linden-Hubbell.

Watersmeet 7 10 8 12 – 37

Baraga 22 17 16 27 – 82

Baraga – M. Jahfetson 5, M. Kinnunen 9, J. Kinnunen 10, C. Mleko 14, C. Osterman 26, K. Clisch 6, A. Jahfetson 6, C. Pittsley 6. FTs: 0-0. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Osterman 6, M. Kinnunen 3, J. Kinnunen 2, Pittsley 2, M. Jahfetson 1.

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EWEN — The Dollar Bay Blue Bolts rallied from a 17-point deficit to hold the Ewen-Trout Creek Panthers scoreless in overtime to earn a 45-38 Copper Mountain Conference win Thursday in Ewen.

Bobbi Jo Caskey led the Blue Bolts (8-12 6-10) with 17 points, while Cami Daavettila scored 15 points. 

Elise Besonen paced the Panthers with 18 points; she scored 12 in the first quarter and after that, Dollar Bay used a box-and-1 defense on her. 

After a 29-16 halftime lead, E-TC would go on and score just nine points the rest of the way. The Panthers shot 3 of 27 overall from the field in the second half. 

“We had our opportunities, but could not finish,” E-TC head coach Jacky Besonen said. “The second half, we could not put the ball in the hole.”

With the game tied late in the fourth, Elise Besonen hit one of her five 3s for the lead, only to have Daavettila answer with a 3 of her own.

E-TC had a one-and-one with eight seconds left, but missed the front end before securing the rebound. Still, the Panthers couldn’t capitalize and missed the putback. 

In overtime, Dollar Bay’s Emma Stout scored all four of her points in the extra session. Then the Blue Bolts began to stall, securing the victory.

Ava Moilanen led E-TC with nine rebounds.

Next, E-TC (11-6, 10-4) closes the season tonight at Watersmeet. Dollar Bay will play the winner of Baraga and Lake Linden-Hubbell in the districts. 

Dollar Bay 7 9 13 9 7 — 45

E-TC 16 13 3 6 0 — 38

Dollar Bay — Busser 4, Poyhonen 2, Daavettila 15, Gilles 3, Stout 4, Caskey 17. F: 15; Fouled out: None; Free throws: 5-8; 3-point field goals: Daavettila 2. 

E-TC — Witt 2, Berglund 7, Driesenga 9, Besonen 18, Lakkala 2. F: 13; Fouled out: None; Free throws: 4-9; 3-point field goals: Besonen 5, Driesenga. 

– – – 

CALUMET — The Calumet Copper Kings ended the regular season with a 63-32 win over the Lake Linden-Hubbell Lakes Thursday in Calumet. 

Brooke Kariniemi led the Copper Kings with 11 points, while Lea Bjorn scored 10 and Celia Peterson added nine.

“It was great to see balanced scoring,” Calumet head coach Jeff Twardzik said. “Especially Celia Peterson being a senior in her last regular season game. 

“We need everyone contributing to make the (tournament) run.”

Calumet (13-5) took a 37-15 lead at halftime after limiting LL-H to just four points in the second quarter.

Alexa Destrampe led the Lakes (4-16) with nine points. 

Next, Calumet heads to Ironwood for a district opener on Monday, while LL-H hosts Baraga on the same day.

LL-H 11 4 7 10 — 32

Calumet 20 17 16 10 — 63

LL-H — Keranen 2, Perala 8, Seppala 5, Koepel 8, Destrampe 9. F: 8; Fouled out: None; Free throws: 3-8; 3-point field goals: Koepel 2, Seppala.

Calumet — Anderson 4, Larson 2, Bjorn 10, Johnson 3, Sturos 8, Kiilunen 8, Kariniemi 11, Peterson 9, Wickstrom 8. F: 11; Fouled out: None; Free throws: 8-9; 3-point field goals: Bjorn 2, Peterson 2, Johnson. 

– – – 

 L’ANSE — The Jeffers Jets started strong with a near-perfect first quarter, but found themselves hanging on in overtime as they earned a 61-58 win over the L’Anse Purple Hornets at the L’Anse Gym.

The Jets seemingly hit everything they threw up in the first quarter en route to a 20-point opening eight minutes.

“They have long-distance shooters,” said Purple Hornets coach Scott Lloyd. “They canned enough of them to build that lead in the first quarter. They were lights out. I don’t think they misses a shot in the first quarter”

The Jets were led by Julia Nordstrom and Alexa Clouthier who combined for 54 of the team’s 61 points on the night. Nordstrom scored 34, while Clouhtier had 20. The duo also combined for 11 3-pointers on the night.

In the second quarter, the Hornets returned the favor, outscoring the Jets 20-14 and making thing interesting the rest of the night from there.

“It was a good basketball game,” said Lloyd. “Both teams got into foul trouble down the stretch.”

Bailey Froberg paced the Hornets with 16 points.

Next, Jeffers (14-6) plays Ontonagon in a district opener in Lake Linden on Monday. L’Anse (8-12) opens at Hancock on the same day.

Jeffers 20  14  7  10  10 – 61

L’Anse 11  20  9  11  7 – 58

Top scorers

JHS: Nordstrom 34, Clouthier 20; 3-point field goals: Clouthier 6, Nordstrom 5

LHS: Froberg 16, Francois 14, Matson 13

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