L’Anse center Nathan Hochstein, center, is surrounded by Chassell defenders on Monday in Chassell. (Paul Peterson/For the Gazette)

CHASSELL — L’Anse captured a girls and boys basketball doubleheader Monday night here.

In the first game at Ed Helakoski Memorial Gym, the Hornets girls notched an easy win.

In the boys game, the Hornets scored a hard-fought win.

L’Anse 45, Chassell 25

Hornets’ senior guard Maija Rice was almost the whole show as the Purple Gang won its third in a row.

Rice tossed in a game-leading 27 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and handed out five assists.

Chassell skipper Rosalie Kangas said her team had no answer for Rice.

“We tried to stay in front of her (Rice), but she’s so athletic — that’s tough to do,” Kangas said. “She’s just a complete player.”

LHS mounted a 15-8 first quarter lead and upped that to 33-15 by the half. Rice netted 18 points in the opening two frames.

Chassell tried to nibble into the margin in the second half behind Maelene Warren, but could get no closer than the final margin.

Junior forward Taylor Sanreget chipped in 8 points and a team-leading 9 rebounds to back up Rice.

“I thought we played pretty decent pressure defense,” coach Rice said.

Warren topped the Panthers with seven points and had six steals.

L’Anse 15 16 14 6 — 45

Chassell 8 7 4 6 — 25

L’ANSE (45): Martinez 4, M. Rice 27. Swanson 2, Sanregret 8, Minerick 4. FT: 6-7. Rebounds: 33. F: 17. Fouled out: None. 3PT: None.

CHASSELL (25): Holombo 4, Warren 7, Pietila 4, Olson 3, Palosaari 2, Etelamaki 3, Huhta 2. FT 3-7. Rebounds: 22 (Warren 6). Fouls: 11. 3PT: None.

Boys: L’Anse 73, Chassell 61

A sizeable advantage on the boards boosted LHS to its second win three tries.

The Panthers bothered the Hornets most of the game with full-court pressure. But the bigger Purple Gang took control.

“They have those two big guys (6-foot-7 Eli Ostermeyer and 6-5 Nathan Hochstein) and they hurt us,” Chassell coach Raphael Soumis said. “But they also shot very well.”

The overall play of Chassell’s Karl Rautiola was a concern of L’Anse skipper Kyle Koski.

“We knew that Rautiola was a force we had to be aware of,” Koski said. “In order to win, we had to slow him down.”

Rautiola scored 28 points, while teammate Dean Pietila scored 22 more.

The winners were paced by Ostermeyer with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Kaegen Laufenberg also hit 14 markers, while Alex Kissel was good for 12 and Hochstein had a double-double with 12 points and 11 boards.

The game was tied 30-30 at halftime before L’Anse grabbed a 54-49 margin after three quarters.