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Game on the line: Negaunee Miners come through in end to defeat Marquette Redettes, finish regular season 20-0

Marquette’s Claudia Hale, top center, is surrounded by Negaunee players, from left, Ielee Shiroda, Abby Nelson and Clara Johnson as they try to recover a loose ball in the third quarter of their high school girls basketball game played at the Redettes’ gym on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

“We definitely battled for some possessions to … stay in there.” — Ben Smith, head coach, Marquette girls basketball

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MARQUETTE — Heading into the fourth quarter Tuesday night, it looked like the Marquette girls basketball team might be the one to finally end Negaunee’s undefeated run this season.

But good teams come through when the game is on the line and that’s what the Miners did as they outscored the Redettes 22-11 in the fourth frame to earn a 72-61 win and end their regular season with a perfect 20-0 record.

Natalie Bartle led the Miners with 30 points, 16 coming in the fourth. Avery Ledy led Marquette with 27 points.

Negaunee head coach Brandon Sager gave Ledy and the Redettes a lot of credit and said that this type of game will benefit the Miners in the postseason that starts next week.

“They (the Redettes) threw the first punch and came out ready to play,” he said. “They had a lot of emotions with Senior Night, which we just experienced at our place, and they wanted it more than we did in the first half.

“We did not have an answer for Avery. So we adjusted a few things at halftime and she still got some points, but in the last couple of minutes, we were able to bear down and make some plays.

“We also shot 22 of 23 from the free-throw line and any time you (do) that, it’s going to put you in a position to win. It was a well-fought game and a great game to get us ready for next week.”

After falling behind early, the Redettes (14-5) rallied back to take the lead in the third quarter, but couldn’t keep things going down the stretch.

“We were up I think as many as four (points) in the second half, but we didn’t make enough plays,” Marquette head coach Ben Smith said. “They put good ball pressure on us and we handled it for the most part, but a few times, we didn’t.

“Against good athletic players, they’re going to play hard and we’ve got to play hard and fight through it.

“I’m really proud of our effort. Looking at some of the stuff we’ve done this year, we have not battled as hard as we needed to or valued the basketball like we need to.

“Not saying that we were flawless or perfect with it tonight, but we definitely battled for some possessions to kind of stay in there. We just couldn’t finish enough plays or get enough stops to keep it going down the stretch.”

In the first quarter, the Miners held a slim two-point advantage before going off on a 10-0 run to close out the frame, six of which came from Abby Nelson.

Down 26-14 at the start of the second, Ledy took over for the Redettes, scoring eight straight points. After Marquette tied the game 30-30, the Miners got a triple from Nelson and a layup from Bartle to build another small lead before the break.

Midway through the third, the Redettes grabbed their first lead at 42-40 on two free throws by Ledy, but Negaunee got six straight points from Bartle to take the lead back. The teams went into the fourth quarter tied 50-50.

That’s when Bartle took over. The senior guard knocked down a trey, scored a layup off a nice steal and then put in two free throws to put the Miners up by nine and help close out the victory.

Marquette plays at Menominee Thursday for a chance to win the Great Northern Conference, while Negaunee has wrapped up its regular season and will play in the district semifinals next Wednesday.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.

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