L’Anse’s Eli Ostermeyer (32) shoots against Jeffers on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, in Painesdale, Mich. (Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette)

PAINESDALE — A strong L’Anse Purple Hornet girls squad made short order of the Jeffers Jets with a final score of 60-17 on Thursday night.

“Defense wins games for us, and I thought our defense looked good tonight,” said Purple Hornets head coach Chad Rice.

L’Anse started out strong with a 12 -5 lead. They had good ball movement and did not allow the Jets to get much going on offense. The first quarter was Jeffers best as they scored eight. At half time, the Purple Hornets were up 33-13

The last two quarters were much the same with the Purple Hornets dominating the play with fast turn arounds and aggressive moves to the basket. Maija Rice led the team with 28 points. Taylor Sanregret followed with 19.

“We have some set offensive plays we run, but I just wish we would make our shots,” Rice said. “We had a lot of good looks, but we are missing too many.”

He added that he was impressed with the defensive play of Natalie Swanson and Sanregret.

“Both of those girls are great at blocking out and getting rebounds,” Rice said. “Natalie is not afraid to throw a body around and take a charge.”

Olivia Anderson and Miranda Heinonen led the Jets in scoring with seven points each.

Despite the lopsided game, Jets head coach Stephanie Sterbenz said all was not lost.

“We got to play some of our younger girls and try some different rotations,” she said. “It has been a hard year with three games each week and little time to work on things. But, we are having fun.”

L’Anse 13 20 21 6 — 60

Jeffers 8 5 2 4 — 17

Boys: Jeffers 88, L’Anse 40

PAINESDALE — The Jeffers Jets sunk 11 3-pointers in their 88-40 win over the L’Anse Purple Hornets on Thursday. Four of those 3s came from the hot hand of Johnny Schutz who scored 22 points and had seven rebounds, eight assists and three steals. Right beside him was Christian Hocking who had a double-double with 27 points and 12 rebounds. He also had seven assists and five steals.

After the first quarter, the Jets led by 10, but pushed it to 26 points at halftime, 44-18.

For the Purple Hornets, Alex Kissel led the scoring with 16 points.

Girls: Baraga 62, Ironwood 37

BARAGA — Reide Osterman and Rylie Koskinen combined for 31 points in a 62-37 rout of Ironwood on Tuesday.

Osterman led with a game-high 16 points while Koskinen scored 15. Koskinen drained three triples and Osterman had two.

The Vikings had a 38-18 halftime lead.

Ironwood 6 12 11 8 — 37

Baraga 18 20 16 8 — 62

IRONWOOD (37): Boyd 23, Routsala 7, Buerger 3, Tiziani 2, Osterholm 2. FT: 10-22. 3PT: Boyd 3. F: 9.

BARAGA (62): Osterman 16, Koskinen 15, C. Jahfetson 10, Lindemann 9, Michaelson 6, K. Jahfetson 4, Messer 2. FT: 6-9. 3PT: Koskinen 3, Osterman 2, Michaelson 2, C. Jahfetson 2, Lindemann 1. F: 19.

Girls: Ontonagon 63, LL-H 24

ONTONAGON — Nicole Lukkari and Ella Menigoz combined for 36 points in Ontonagon’s 63-24 win against Lake Linden-Hubbell on Thursday.

Lukkari scored a game-high 20 points while Menigoz added 16. Teddy Menigoz scored 12 points.

Tyalor Clements led Lake Linden-Hubbell with seven points. Olivia Shank, Kaci Destrampe and Melissa Wagner each scored five points.

LL-H 10 4 8 2 — 24

OAHS 20 18 7 18 — 63

LAKE LINDEN-HUBBELL (24): Clements 7, Destrampe 5, Wagner 5, Shank 5, Dastaler 2. FT: 4-7. 3PT: Destrampe 1, Shank 1. F: 8.

ONTONAGON (63): Lukkari 20, E. Menigoz 16, T. Menigoz 12, Bobula 5, Kolpack 4, Fredrikson 3, Uotila 2, McIntyre 1. FT: 6-15. 3PT: E. Menigoz 3, Lukkari 2, Bobula 1, T. Menigoz 1. F: 12.

Boys: LL-H 49, Ontonagon 38

ONTONAGON — Travis Ongie scored 18 points and William Lyons scored 16 in leading Lake Linden-Hubbell to a 49-38 win against Ontonagon on Thursday.

Ongie scored eight of his points in the fourth quarter. He was 6 of 8 from the free-throw line. Lyons scored 13 of his points in the second and third quarters.

Reece LaBine led Ontonagon with 10 points. Ryan Preiss scored eight points.

LL-H 13 8 18 10 — 49

OAHS 8 14 9 7 — 38

LAKE LINDEN-HUBBELL (49): Ongie 18, Lyons 16, Sutherland 11, Marcotte 2, Shank 2. FT: 9-22. 3PT: Lyons 1, Sutherland 1. F: 12 (Holzberger fouled out).

ONTONAGON (38): LaBine 10, Preiss 8, Bramlett 8, Immonen 7, Strasser 3, Potter 2. FT: 3-7. 3PT: Strasser 1, LaBine 1, Bramlett 1.