Hancock’s Emery Chynoweth brings the ball up court during a game against Negaunee Friday at the Hancock Gym. (Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette)

HANCOCK — For the first eight minutes of Friday night’s girls basketball matchup between the Hancock Bulldogs and the Negaunee Miners, the Bulldogs had the hot hand. They led the Miners 14-6, and appeared to be on their way to an upset.

Then came the second quarter, where the hot hand transferred to the Miners, who sunk 16 points to the Bulldogs two, and led 22-16 at half. The third and fourth quarters were as dismal for the Bulldogs (1-2) as the second. They scored just seven total points in the second half, while the Miners (4-0) poured in 40, and won, 62-23.

“We got off to a little shaky start as we were playing on our heels in the first (quarter),” said Miners coach Mike O’Donnell. “However, we seemed to wake up in there in the second and played out a complete game.”

One thing that made the difference in the second, and changed the momentum from Hancock to Negaunee, was the Miners’ defense. It caused the Bulldogs fits.

“We had way too many turnovers as we faced their press,” said Bulldogs coach Ward Helakoski. “Negaunee then did a good job turning those into points. We need to handle the ball better.”

While the Bulldogs put pressure on the Miners’ Michigan Tech Huskies recruit Ella Mason, that freed up other girls to score. Aubry Johnson led the way with 15, and Kiera Waterman followed with 12.

“They both had great games coming through at both ends of the court,” noted O’Donnell. “Then, I liked as well that a number of other girls got in on the scoring action.”

To the Bulldogs’ credit, their defense held Mason to just nine, but did little to counter those points. After 14 points in the first, the Bulldogs sunk only nine as a team for the remainder of the game – not a winning formula for Helakoski.

“We need to make our shots,” he said. “Some of this comes from lack of varsity experience. We do not have a lot of that this year. Better to have games like this early on as we can learn from our mistakes.”

UP NEXT

The Bulldogs will close out December with a Tuesday game against Chassell at home. Tip off is set for 7:15 p.m.