Laura Lyons of Lake Linden-Hubbell drives to the basket as Emma Stout of Dollar Bay defends Tuesday night. The Lakes scored a 43-35 win in the Copper Mountain Conference contest. (Paul Peterson photo)

DOLLAR BAY — The game of basketball can throw you a curveball once in a while.

Take Tuesday night’s Lake Linden-Hubbell-Dollar Bay girls basketball game.

The Lakes appeared to be in complete control at the half with a 21-9 lead before the Blue Bolts came out red-hot in the third quarter.

“It’s a neighborhood rivalry game,” Lakes coach Maureen Schick said after her team’s eventual 43-35 win. “You just never know what’s going to happen.”

What happened was a 13-point explosion by Paige Isaacson that keyed a 22-8 third quarter, and lifted the Bolts into a 31-29 lead at quarter’s end.

Dollar Bay coach Steve Krahling said it was a simple matter of not turning the ball over by his team.

“We were just throwing it away in the first half,” Krahling said. “But we started taking better care of the ball and Paige (Isaacson) hit some big shots.”

Isaacson nailed a trio of 3-pointers in the big quarter.

But the Lakes were undaunted by the turnaround by their rivals, and they regained the lead in the final quarter.

Baskets by Laura Lyons and Megan Corrigan vaulted LL-H into a 33-31 advantage — one the Lakes never relinquished.

“I thought we did a better job of rebounding in the fourth quarter,” Schick said. “Sometimes we fall back into old habits. But we corrected that somewhat and got a win.”

Krahling said turnovers, a Dollar Bay issue all season, hurt his team again last night.

“We turned it over 25 times in this game and you’re just not going to win if you do that,” he said. “If we can stop doing it, we can win some games.”

Corrigan paced the Blue and Gold, now 3-7, with 11 points, while Lyons was good for nine points, six steals and a handful of assists. McKenna Keranen had eight points.

Erin Seppala topped the winners on the boards with eight rebounds.

The 1-8 Blue Bolts were led by Isaacson’s 17 points. Emma Stout put in eight more and Bobbi Jo Caskey grabbed a team-leading 10 rebounds.

Schick believes her team is still capable of putting together a decent second-half run.

“We can use our team speed to good use and we can play good defense,” she said. “But our basketball IQ is still low and we have to learn how to finish a game.”

The Lakes will travel to Wakefield Friday night in another Copper Mountain Conference test.

Dollar Bay will host Baraga on Monday.

– – –

LL-H 9 12 8 14 — 43

Dollar Bay 2 7 22 4 — 35

LL-H — Seppala 6, Corrigan 11, Lyons 9, Keranen 8, Perala 2, LePage 6, Dostaler 1. FT: 9-16; Rebounds: 25 (Seppala 8); Fouls: 9: Fouled out: None; 3-point FG: Corrigan 1.

DOLLAR BAY — Caskey 4, Stout 8, Poyhonen 6, Isaacson 17. FT: 1-6; Rebounds: 27 (Caskey 10); Fouls: 13: Fouled out: None; 3-point FG: Isaacson 3, Stout 1.