EBEN — The Superior Central girls survived a flurry of free throws by Kennedy Englund in the final 40 seconds to take a 39-37 victory over Mid Peninsula in high school basketball action on Monday night.

Leading 38-31 with the clock reading less a minute left, Englund was fouled and a technical foul was called on a Cougars player, giving the Wolverines’ top scorer four shots at the free-throw line. She sank every one to make it 38-35, then was fouled again seconds later and made two more to pull her team within 38-37.

However, SC freshman Willow Pasanen was able to draw a foul with four seconds left and made 1 of 2 at the line to give her team the final margin of victory. MP tried a desperation shot that missed the mark at the buzzer.

SC (8-7, 5-7 Skyline Central Conference) led for most of the game, upping its lead to as many as 10 points in the second quarter before settling for a 22-16 halftime advantage.

MP (8-8, 6-6) whittled its deficit to 28-26 by the end of the third quarter.

“Our defense played pretty good, but we had some foul trouble fairly early on,” Cougars coach Greg Trowbridge said. “Then in the third quarter, our offense had a few turnovers that bogged us down.”

Sophomore Jada Johnson paced SC with 12 points and nine rebounds, while junior Taylor Silta added nine points.

Englund finished with a game-high 19 points, making 12 of 13 free throws overall.

The Cougars host Bark River-Harris at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, then play a makeup game at home against Stephenson on Wednesday, Feb. 15.

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Chassell 61, Republic-Michigamme 17

At Chassell, the Panthers had all the answers against the undermanned Hawks (1-14, 0-10 Copper Mountain Conference).

“Chassell can move the ball extremely well and they have a couple of big girls who make things tough inside,” R-M coach April Radcliffe said.

She was happy that the Hawks kept the tall duo, Sophia Huhta and Sydney Danison, to 10 points between them.

But the Panthers (11-4, 11-2) got 18 points from Milly Allen, 13 from Lela Rautiola and 10 from Meg Hokenson.

They also raced to a 16-2 lead after one quarter and 30-8 at halftime.

Pacing R-M was freshman Tailyn Raisanen with seven points.

Both teams hit the road for games on Thursday. The Hawks go to Bessemer while Chassell visits Dollar Bay.

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Baraga 46, Wakefield-Marenisco 31

At Baraga, the Vikings got the win despite not playing as well defensively as coach Keith Willis would’ve liked.

Baraga (13-2, 10-1 CMC) were missing one player with an injury and two others were not into the starting lineup for various reasons. Still, Willis felt that was no excuse for surrendering 18 points in the second half.

“This is one of those games where we only started two regular starters,” Willis said. “I don’t know if that threw off the whole game. We just didn’t seem like we were mentally into it at all.”

On the bright side, the Vikes’ Casey Mleko led all scorers with 20 points despite not starting. Willis was pleased to see her step up.

“She didn’t start in the game, (but she) went in (with a) great attitude,” Willis said.

Baraga led after each quarter, including 36-23 going into the fourth.

The Vikings will face Lake Linden-Hubbell at home on Thursday.

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L’Anse 72, West Iron County 61

At L’Anse, the Purple Hornets battled back from a 15-11 deficit after one quarter in this West PAC game.

L’Anse coach Scott Lloyd was proud of the effort his girls put in defensively to fight back, get the lead, and then hang on to it.

“We took very good care of the ball,” Lloyd said. “We did a good job rebounding.”

Taylor Brown had a strong night for the Hornets (6-8, 1-4) finishing with 15 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Bailey Froberg had L’Anse scorers with 17 points.

Lloyd was proud of his girls for keeping their composure throughout and not surrendering free points by getting into foul trouble.

“The key to the game was that we didn’t put them in the bonus, shooting free throws, in either half,” Lloyd said.

The Hornets return to action Thursday when they host Hancock.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Writer Steve Brownlee with contributions from the Houghton Daily Mining Gazette. Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.