Houghton’s Gwen Markhan, left, puts up a shot as Calumet’s Lizzie Torola closes in on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021, in Houghton, Mich. (Eddie O’Neill/The Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — Despite taking a one-point lead with less than a minute to go, the Houghton Gremlins were unable keep the Calumet Copper Kings out of the net as they earned a 55-53 victory.

With the win, the Copper Kings move to 7-0 on the season.

With less than 30 seconds to go, the Gremlins were down by one at 52-51. The ball got knocked around and their center Stella Wickstrom picked it up and put it off the glass for a Gremlin 53-51 lead. Now it was do or die for the Copper Kings.

“I wanted to push the ball up and give it to Elli (Djerf) but as the ball came lose, Jana Loukus picked it and had the green light,” explained Matt Laho, head coach of the Copper Kings.

While any loss is a frustrating one, Gremlins head coach Julie Filpus was quite pleased with the effort put in on the floor by her team on Thursday.

“We’ve made so much progress in the past few games,” she said. “We have worked hard in practice trying to create confidence against pressure, and I thought we did a really good job of that tonight.”

It was a back-and-forth battle from the start. While the Copper Kings came out with a 7-2 lead, the Gremlins were ahead 14-10 after the first quarter. The battle continued in much the same way in the second with the score tied at 21 but Calumet had a 26-25 lead at halftime.

“I told the girls to continue to keep doing what they were doing at halftime,” Filpus said. “They were doing a lot of good things — keep it up.”

Neither team was giving up. As the clocked ticked down in the third, these rivals tied at 26 and again at 32 before a 44-43 Calumet lead to start the fourth. The Gremlins were able to even the score again at 47 and hang in there for that last-minute attempt at a win. However, the net rattled in Calumet’s favor.

“Credit to Laina Kariniemi,” Laho said. “She is just a freshman but she stepped up and hit some key baskets at times to when we needed it.”

Kariniemi had nine points with one three. Calumet’s top scorer was once again Djerf with 24 and three three pointers.

Wickstrom led the scoring for the Gremlins with 22 and Maryellen Trewhella had 15.

“All the girls played so hard tonight and I am so proud of them,” said Filpus. “It just stinks to be on the losing side.”

CHS 12 14 18 11 — 55

HHS 14 11 18 10 — 53

Girls: Baraga 61, Bessemer 15

The Baraga Vikings came out fast and never looked back in their win over Bessemer.

“We got out in transition early and got a decent lead,” said Baraga’s head coach Tom Goodreau. “We were able to use our whole bench and get everyone a good amount of playing time.”

Rylie Koskinen led the scoring for the Vikings with 14 points.

Girls: Ontonagon 45, Jeffers 23

Teddy Menigoz scored 18 points to lead Ontonagon over Jeffers on Thursday. MaKennah Uotila scored eight points and Nicole scored six for the Gladiators. Miranda Heinonen led Jeffers with 11 points. Ontonagon led 25-9 at halftime.

Boys: Jeffers 82, Ontonagon 22

The Jeffers Jets boys put it to the Ontonagon Gladiators on Thursday night with a dominant win. Johnny Schutz had an impressive 31-point game which included nine three balls. Christian Hocking followed him with 21 points.

Thomas Immonen led the Gladiators with nine points.