Manistique’s Madison Berry, right, and Iron Mountain’s Saylor Swartout chase a loose ball in their Mid-Peninsula Conference game on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017, at the Mountaineers' gym. (Iron Mountain Daily News photo by Burt Angeli)

IRON MOUNTAIN — Iron Mountain snapped out of a three-minute scoring drought at game’s start to down Manistique 51-45 in a Mid-Peninsula Conference girls basketball game on Thursday.

Riley Poupore’s game-high 20 points led the Mountaineers (4-9, 2-5), who closed the final two minutes of the first quarter with nine points for a 13-12 advantage.

Emeralds coach David Winkel liked the looks of his team in the early going.

“It was nice for us to be in a game,” said Winkel, his Emeralds still searching for their first win. “Those first six minutes, most of the first quarter, whatever we were doing we need to do that more often.

“We came out defensively ready to play like we haven’t played all year. Our good defense was leading us to good shots on offense.”

Iron Mountain pulled out to a 29-19 halftime lead and still led 38-27 after three quarters.

“We kind of got away from what were doing in the first quarter,” Winkel said. “We got a little bit lazy on the defensive end and started giving up some points in the paint, and that allowed them to set their zone. We struggled to find good shots against their zone.”

Iron Mountain posted scoring balance after Poupore. Emma Thomann chipped in eight points while Saylor Swartout, Brianna Hoffman and Marissa Schilling had seven apiece.

Manistique’s Madison Berry scored 15 points and Madison Kraatz had 11. Tasha Joslin grabbed nine of the Emeralds’ 33 rebounds.

Forty-one fouls slowed the contest. Iron Mountain had 17, with four players tagged with four.

“We did just enough to stay in but not quite enough to pull it out,” Winkel said. “But I’m happy with their effort.”

On Tuesday, Iron Mountain visits Westwood while Manistique hosts Gwinn.

IM won the JV game, 66-30.