Baraga’s Casey Mleko, left, shoots over Lake Linden-Hubbell’s Erin Seppala during a Class D girls basketball district tournament game held Monday in Lake Linden. (Houghton Daily Mining Gazette photo by Bryce Derouin)

LAKE LINDEN — For one quarter, the Baraga Vikings played the type of basketball that could carry them to East Lansing. 

Yes, the No. 7 Class D team in the state in the final AP poll — and the top-ranked Class D team in the latest UPSSA poll — was that good early on against Lake Linden-Hubbell on Monday night.

Baraga lit it up offensively, converting five of their first six attempts on 3-pointers, all while forcing the Lakes into 10 first-quarter turnovers for a 27-10 lead. 

But Baraga’s stellar start was mired by sloppiness over the final three quarters. And despite the Vikings’ 64-45 win in Monday’s Class D district tournament opener, Baraga’s shortcomings have head coach Keith Willis concerned about his team’s chances to advance out of the district with a matchup against Dollar Bay at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. 

Senior Casey Mleko led the Vikings (18-2) with 25 points and 10 rebounds, and senior Carsyn Osterman added 14 points, six rebounds and five assists. 

“I don’t know if they’re reading their press clippings, but that was not good enough,” Willis said. “We won’t beat Dollar Bay, Jeffers or Chassell. We have to pick it up.”

After Baraga shot 8 of 13 in the first quarter, the Vikings were just 11 of 41 the rest of the way against LL-H’s zone.

“We had kids on offense forcing shots and it was like, ‘What are you doing?’ Just throwing shots at the basket,” Willis said. “We just really went in the tank … I can’t make excuses for them. 

“I don’t know. If I knew everything about basketball, I’d write a book and have a house in Jamaica and that’s where I’d be living now.” 

As frustrating as things became for the Purple and Gold, at least the Vikings had that fast start to salvage the night. LL-H was not as fortunate, finishing with 29 turnovers against Baraga’s aggressive zone defense. The Lakes (4-17) shot just 12 of 35 for the game. 

The miscues, along with the lack of ability to knock down shots from the perimeter, didn’t allow the Lakes to mount a comeback while Baraga struggled on its own offensive end. LL-H shot just seven 3s and only made one as the Vikings continued to pack in their 2-3 zone and intercept or deflect each pass that came inside the zone. 

“We just don’t have shooters and we haven’t had it all season long,” Lakes coach Maureen Schick said. “We had people make shots, but no one who is a pure shooter who can stand out there and shoot.”

Senior Justice Kinnunen (2 of 2), sophomore Martina Jahfetson (1 of 1) and senior Megan Kinnunen (1 of 1) were perfect on their attempts from 3 in the first quarter — to go along with Osterman’s made 3 — to fuel the hot start.

The Vikings are always known for their stifling defense, but a sharp-shooting offense could potentially put this group over the top if they can consistently replicate the first eight minutes from Monday.

“We have some kids who can shoot 3s. We have not been doing it a whole lot but I see it in practice every day,” Willis said.