The Baraga High School girls varsity basketball team celebrates its MHSAA Division 4 state quarterfinal win after defeating Pickford 57-40 on Tuesday, March 15, 2022, in Munising. (Travis Nelson/Marquette Mining Journal)

BARAGA — The Baraga girls’ basketball team did something this season that had only been done once before in the program’s history.

That was to make it to the MHSSA Division 4 state semifinals a week ago. The last time a Baraga girls’ team had gone that far was in 1992.

While this year’s Vikings lost in the semifinals to Fowler 51-45, it was a season to remember.

“It was incredible as we weren’t sure what to expect on the court going into the season,” said first-year varsity head coach Tyler Larson. “I was just trying to put the pieces together and figure out our identity.”

The Vikings ended the season with a 23-2 record. Their only regular-season loss came at the hands of Houghton.

“As the season got underway, the girls started to gel in the right direction,” Larson said. “They started getting stronger and when we hit the post season, we were ready to go.”

The Vikings post-season run began with a 58-24 win over L’Anse for the MHSAA Division 4 District 98 championship. They then took care of Ontonagon, Carney-Nadeau and Pickford before facing Fowler in the state semifinals.

“The key to our success I think was the fact that the girls enjoyed themselves while competing at a high level,” Larson said. “They worked hard, and I let the girls play the game that they knew how to play. That instilled confidence and a spirit of ‘we can beat anybody if we are playing our best’ be our guide.'”

The Vikings’ team leader was senior Reide Osterman. She was a starter on varsity all four of her high school years and served as the Vikings’ field general on and off the court.

This season Osterman averaged 16.1 points per game. She also pulled in on average 6.3 rebounds per game and averaged nearly seven steals per game. She was named the Copper Mountain Conference’s MVP for both basketball and volleyball this year.

“She was willing to put the team first,” Larson said. “Reide is the type of player any coach would love to have on their team.”

Osterman and Lily Messer are the only players the Vikings will lose to graduation this year. With that in mind, Larson and his team have state champions already on their minds for next year.

“We will have a strong senior class for next season as well as sophomores who will be coming up,” he said. “This season gave these girls a taste of what can be done, and I think that is so important moving forward. After our (semifinal) loss to Fowler, I told the girls they have nothing to be ashamed of. They gave it their all from day one, and that’s all any coach could ask for.”