Gwinn’s Trisha McGuire, right, brings the ball up court as Ishpeming’s Chloe Sjoholm defends Wednesday night at Gwinn High School. (Journal photo by Rachel Oakley)

GWINN — Junior Mariah Austin and senior Marissa Maino combined for 44 points to lead the Ishpeming High School girls basketball team to its third straight victory, a 64-35 win at Gwinn on Wednesday night.

“Those two really stepped up,” Ishpeming head coach Ryan Reichel said. “We had two players go down due to injuries the past week, so having those two step up helped us a lot.”

Austin scored 27 points grabbed 11 rebounds while Maino contributed 17 points and 14 rebounds. Junior Chloe Sjoholm also had double-figures scoring for the Hematites with 10 points.

The Hematites took the lead from the outset and never gave it back.

Ishpeming jumped out with a 6-0 start before Gwinn sophomore Trisha McGuire made a layup to put the Modeltowners on the board.

Maino had half of Ishpeming’s 12 points in the first quarter.

Gwinn trailed 16-6 in the second quarter when senior Kia Evans and McGuire hit back-to-back 3-pointers to pull GHS within four. The Hematites then went on a 10-0 run to end the first half with a 26-12 advantage.

Ishpeming outscored Gwinn 21-13 in the third quarter to take a 47-25 lead into the final quarter. Austin and Maino each had nine points in the quarter while Sjoholm had the other six points.

“I always tell our players that the first three minutes of the third quarter are really important, so for us to have a big quarter like that was huge to keeping the lead,” Reichel said. “I’m happy with how the defense played in the second half.”

Even with the big lead in the fourth, Austin didn’t stop scoring, netting nine of her team’s 17 fourth-quarter points.

Maino was perfect from the field, hitting on all eight shots she attempted Wednesday.

Gwinn’s leading scorer was McGuire with 11 points while Evans added 10.

Both teams committed nine turnovers.

“I was very impressed with how the team played,” Reichel said. “Everyone really stepped up and we played well against a very well coached Gwinn team.”

The Ishpeming JV team won 47-37.

On Tuesday, Ishpeming plays at Gladstone, while Gwinn goes to Manistique.

Email Julie Goldberg at sports@miningjournal.net.