ENGADINE — The Calumet Copper Kings and the Maple City Glen Lake Lakers girls’ basketball teams are no strangers in postseason play.

A year ago, the Copper Kings took down the Lakers 73-69 in MHSSA Division 3 state quarterfinal action. On March 10, Maple City Glen Lake got revenge as they posted a 53-39 over the Copper Kings in a MHSSA Division 3 Region 17 final. With the victory, the Lakers will take on Lake City on Wednesday in the state semifinals. The Division 3 girls’ championship game is set for this Saturday at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.

Last week’s win continued Glen Lake’s perfect season of 24-0. The Copper Kings closed their regular season at 18-2 and went 3-1 in the post season. They beat Ishpeming 68-29 to win districts and went on to down Bark-River Harris in the regional semifinals before facing Glen Lake.

“They (Glenn Lake) are a good team,” said Calumet’s head coach Matt Laho. “They played tough and took an early lead.”

The Lakes bounced out to a 17-7 lead after one. However, the Copper Kings outscored their opponent 13-8 in the second to make it a 25-20 Glenn Lake tilt at halftime. The Laker, though, came out strong and got back into the swing of things in the third and the fourth and never looked back. They sunk 20 points alone in the fourth to seal the win.

“We were able to get it within three points, but couldn’t get over the hump,” Laho said. “We couldn’t make the shots down the stretch.”

The Copper Kings were just 4-27 from the three-point line and were never able to take the lead.

“We couldn’t make our shots down the stretch, and that made the difference,” Laho said. “Our girls played well, though, and I’m proud of them.”

Jana Loukus and Marybeth Halonen led the Copper Kings with 12 points each.

Despite the loss, Laho said it was a memorable season – one in which his girls gave their all on the court night after night.

“It was a good season, the girls played well. When you get to this point in the year, every game counts, and you must play your best basketball. While we played a good game, it just wasn’t good enough.”

MCGL 17 8 8 20 — 53

CHS 7 13 7 12 — 39