New year, new coach, same old story for the Calumet girls’ basketball team. A 32-point third quarter highlighted the Copper Kings’ dominance over the visiting Iron Mountain Mountaineers. Calumet scored three points in the fourth and still managed to win by more than 30, 76-42, at home Thursday night.

“We come to play fast,” Calumet coach Charlie Kemppainen said. “We’ve only had seven practices, and now we got a game in. I’m very pleased with what [the team] has done.”

It was Kemppainen’s first game as the girls’ head coach, and it couldn’t have been a better result.

“It was good for me just to have some success, and I’m glad for the girls to have some success with me,” said Kemppainen. “They’ve won a ton without me, and I think as time goes on, they’re going to get more and more comfortable with me.”

Even with a lopsided victory, and only giving up 15 second-quarter points, Kemppainen felt there was room for improvement.

“We want to play fast, and every time you foul, the game stops, so I thought that was sloppy,” he said. “I didn’t think we played as well defensively as we’re going to, but they did play like their hair was on fire for a while.”

Laina Kariniemi made six three-pointers and led the Kings with 24 points, Caitlyn Strom scored 19, and Kaylie Halonen had 13.

Iron Mountain went ahead 4-0 early. After three Calumet points, the Mountaineers held their last lead of the game, 4-3. The Copper Kings broke the game open over the next six minutes thanks to a 16-5 run.

At 19-9, Calumet scored six in the final two minutes of the quarter, and Iron Mountain added two. The Copper Kings took a double-digit lead, 25-11, into the second.

Calumet continued their play and led 30-14 with six minutes left in the opening half. Halfway into the second quarter, the Copper Kings still held their 16-point lead, 33-17.

Iron Mountain outscored the Kings 5-3 over the rest of the half, matching Calumet with 16 points in the second. It was a 41-27 ball game entering halftime.

Calumet came out of the half with a purpose and rolled their advantage up with 32-6 third quarter.

“We scored a lot in transition. I don’t know if they got tired or if we were just a little more disciplined,” Kemppainen said. “[I didn’t] make adjustments, to be honest. It was the kids making plays.”

After a four-minute, 14-2 run, Calumet led 54-29. The Copper Kings scored 12 points in the next two minutes and jumped to a massive 66-33 advantage. Over the rest of the third, Calumet went on a stretch of ten straight points and held an enormous lead, 73-33.

The Mountaineers scored six more points than the Copper Kings in the final quarter. However, the 9-3 run meant nothing to the game’s outcome.

Up next

The Copper Kings’ next game is in L’Anse, on Dec. 8, at 7:15 p.m.