GWINN — The Gwinn High School girls basketball team defended its home court Tuesday night, quieting Iron Mountain in the first half as they held on for a low-scoring 33-27 win.

Gwinn head coach Ben Olsen said the game plan was to shut down Iron Mountain star Riley Paupore.

“We were running a man-to-man defense and focused all night on Paupore,” Olsen said. “We knew what she was capable of heading in and we spent three days trying to stop her and always know where she was at.”

Paupore was held scoreless in the first half as the Mountaineers were held to just eight point in the first half.

The Modeltowner defense helped bail out a quiet offense of its own, as Gwinn didn’t score in the second quarter.

“We haven’t been shut down yet this year for an entire quarter, but we’ve had at least one bad (quarter) each game,” Olsen said. “When we have it, the other team usually got their lead and kept it from there.

“Our defense stood strong and help pick us up when our offense was quiet.”

The Modeltowners outscored Iron Mountain 14-7 in the third quarter to build the lead to 29-15 entering the fourth.

Trisha McGuire led Gwinn (3-8 Mid-Peninsula Conference) in scoring with eight points.

Gwinn closes the regular season Friday night hosting Westwood.

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Newberry 47, Engadine 40

At Engadine, Taylor Bryant’s 19 points and a second-half streak helped the Indians win.

The Indians trailed by 11 points at halftime, then 14 points midway through the third quarter, but Newberry put together a 10-0 run during the rest of the period.

Engadine struggled to get past 38 points from that point on, and only scored one basket after that.

“We were playing much better defense,” Newberry head coach Fred Bryant said. “We stopped giving up too many rebounds that we had in the first half, and we locked them down and didn’t give them any scoring chances.

“I was very happy with how our team responded going down early in the game in a hostile environment.”

Olivia Vaughn scored 14 points for Engadine, while Sophia Vaughn added 11.

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Ishpeming 68, Manistique 38

In Manistique, the Hematites won on the road for the second straight night.

Ishpeming head coach Ryan Reichel was proud of his team’s effort after winning in Gladstone the night before.

“The girls came ready to play after back-to-back nights,” Reichel said. “We had two long road trips in a row. All nine girls scored for us and played significant minutes to contribute to our victory.”

Ishpeming doubled up on the Emeralds in the first quarter, outscoring them 16-8 then continuing their streak with 23 points in the second quarter to gain a commanding 39-16 halftime lead.

Three Hematites scored double figures in the win, including Hannah Smith (15), Ava Asgaard (12) and Khora Swanson (11).

Ishpeming finishes its regular season Thursday by hosting Negaunee.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Writer Ray Bressette. His email address is rbressette@miningjournal.net.