BESSEMER — The Wakefield-Marenisco girls basketball team had its sights set on winning their first district tournament since 2006, but it was not meant to be as Jeffers blitzed the Cardinals 57-25 in the MHSAA Division 4 District 97 semifinals on Wednesday night.

Jeffers will square off against Ewen-Trout Creek (15-4) in the District final in the House of Noise on Friday at 6:00 p.m. CST.

The Cardinals’ regular and post season ended with a thud and you could tell by the look on his face that W-M coach Chris Tweiten had expected much more from his team.

“We really came out flat,” Tweiten said. “No going after loose balls or really hustling. They were very quick to get up and down the court and they exploited us with shots from the corner. On defense, we were late on our rotations and you can’t be there late. We just didn’t come out ready to play and execute like we wanted. I was waiting for someone to step up and be aggressive out there and we have to work on our confidence.

“Right now, we have one or two shooters and they have seven to eight.”

Jeffer’s coach Joe Romano was in a foul mood on Monday after his team escaped an upset bid by Watersmeet, but his team came full circle 48 hours later with an excellent effort and Romano was smiling.

“I sort of wonder where this team came from after Monday night’s game,” Romano said. “I’m very, very happy tonight. I’m most happy with our defense-we really played tight man-to-man and Wakefield-Marenisco’s a nice young team. We were watching them shoot in practice and everything was going in. I was very impressed with number 5 (Carlee Yon). She’s a nice basketball player.

“We like to push the ball up the court as much as we can-we’re 12 kids deep so there’s no reason to slow the ball down. We’re small but quick and Marissa Nordstrom had the game of her life.

“We do shoot a lot of 3’s-but it’s not that we’re a good shooting team. When you’re not a good shooting team, you have to shoot a lot to have some of them go in.”

Jeffers 14 17 12 14 – 57

Wakefield 6 8 0 11 – 25

JHS: Brooke Heinonen 6, Heidi Hillstrom 6, Brenna Hill 7, Gracia Asiala 7, Marissa Nordstrom 16, Miranda Heinonen 5, Linnae Heinonen 8. FT’s: 3-6, Fouls: 14, Fouled out: none, 3-pointers: Mirandia Heinonen, Linnae Heinonen, Brenna Hill, Gracia Asiala, Marissa Nordstrom 2.

W-M: Julia Tarro 5, Cloe Bachand 2, Carlee Yon 6, Abby Ahonen 4, Ally Yon 6, Hailey Hautala 2. FT’s: 3-6, Fouls:14, Fouled out: none, 3-pointers: Ally Yon 2, Julia Tarro.