DOLLAR BAY — After a winless season in 2018-19, the Dollar Bay-Tamarack City girls’ basketball team wanted to be sure to get off to a good start in their season and home opener Tuesday night.

They were able to squeak out the victory, 39-38 over Bessemer in a cross-division Copper Mountain Conference matchup, but the Speedgirls made them work for it right up until the final buzzer in a foul-filled slugfest.

In the end, the Blue Bolts found their first win in more than a year.

“We let it slip away a little bit there until the end,” said Dollar Bay head coach Steve Krahling. “I always tell them that free throws are what’s going to win the game for you. And that was a big one at the end there to bring us up by the one.

“I’m really proud of (my team). (Bessemer) beat us twice last year, and they remembered it and they worked hard. However), we do have a lot to clean up and we’ll keep working at doing that.”

There was a festive atmosphere in the gym as a small but raucous crowd came out to support the Blue Bolts in their home opener.

Both teams dressed only seven girls for the game, but Bessemer came in with advantages in both size and experience, featuring one ninth-grader and all upperclassmen otherwise.

Dollar Bay came out firing in the second half. Five quick points lead to a 7-0 run to start the third quarter before Bessemer came back to cut the lead to just three at 24-21.

The Blue Bolts hit back though and closed the frame with another five points to lead 26-21 heading into the fourth quarter. That’s when things got pretty wild.

Dollar Bay tried to really slow the game down to start the stanza, but then opened up offensively. They exploded for a 9-0 run to begin the quarter on some solid shooting and their lead ballooned to 14 points.

Out of a Bessemer timeout, the Speedgirls started to chip away.

By the last minute the Bolts’ lead was only 38-35 and with 41 seconds left in the ballgame Bessmer got into the double-bonus and made both free throws to cut the game down to one point.

Dollar Bay got to the bonus with 27 seconds remaining, but missed the front end of two 1-and-1 opportunities. The Bolts then fouled Speedgirl junior Isabella McGeshick with 21 seconds left, sending her to the line for two shots. She made the first one to knot things up 38-38, missing the second try.

Bessmer then fouled Bolt sophomore guard Kaylee Cavis three seconds later to give the Bolts another 1-and-1 chance. She sunk the first attempt to give DB the lead again for good. Then the Bolts retained possession after a miss on the second foul shot on a ball that went out of bounds off of Bessemer. But Dollar Bay quickly coughed the ball up out of bounds themselves and it was Speedgirl ball with 12 seconds left and the length of the floor in front of them on the baseline inbounds play.

Bessemer was able to get up the court and got a decent look at the go-ahead shot, but the clock expired during a scrum for the rebound off of the side iron and DB-TC was able to celebrate a hugely important win in their first try this winter.

“Well, it was a long trip,” Bessemer head coach Joy Smith said after the game. “It took us a while to get our game going I think we played much better in the second half than we did the first half. I’m really proud of my girls how they came and they cut that deficit.

“This was a big win on a few levels for Dollar Bay. Getting their first victory after more than a calendar year, surpassing their offensive output from any game last season when 31 points was the high-water mark, and surviving an onslaught from a determined opponent are all significant steps in this team’s development.”

Dollar Bay held a 17-14 halftime lead.

The Bolts field a much younger team with six freshmen or sophomores among nine rostered players, and only one senior. First-quarter action was tight as the two squads felt each other out and DB-TC struggled mightily on the boards. But the Bolts were able to establish an 8-5 lead after eight minutes, helped by a late bucket.

Bessemer junior Kailyn Fingeroos led all scorers with 17 points. The Dollar Bay offense was very balanced with all seven players that suited up scoring at least a point. The Bolts were paced by freshman guard Ashley Datto’s nine points, followed closely by eight points from sophomore forward Tatiana Luoma. Cavis poured in seven points

overall as well.

The Bolts now get about a week off to prepare for Baraga’s trip to Dollar Bay on Dec. 10th. That starts a string of six games in 13 days for Krahling’s team before they hit a two-week holiday break.