This is the 2017-18 Munising High School girls varsity basketball team. In the front row from left are Daryn Johnson, Michaela Werner, Kaila Cotey and Taylor Downs. Top row from left, head coach Matt Mattson, Kelsea Ackerman, Keira Stampfly, Taletha Witty, Kianne Wendt, Nykole Fitzgibbon, assistant coach Chris Conklin and Marissa Ackerman. Not pictured is Kelsey Murk. (Photo courtesy Matt Mattson)

MUNISING — Last season was memorable for the Munising girls basketball team in both positive and negative ways.

The Mustangs finished the regular season undefeated at 20-0, but were upset by Ishpeming in their first game of the Class C district tournament, leading to heartbreak on the sidelines.

Looking back on it, though, Munising head coach Matt Mattson thought that it was a good learning experience.

Although the Mustangs have lost some key players from that team, like his daughter Frankie Mattson and point guard Marissa Immel, he thinks this could still be a good season.

“We had a great regular season,” he said. “Ishpeming played really well against us in that tournament game and I don’t think we had our best game. We learned some things from that game and we hope to get better.

“Out of the seniors we lost, I think we have 3,500 points and 2,500 rebounds to replace.

“We do have Kelsea and Marissa (Ackerman) coming back to help our tempo. I think Kianne (Wendt) is going to have a good year for us, too.

“Those are three seniors that we have coming back and then we have a couple of quality juniors that are also coming back. We may be down a little bit, but I think we’ll be all right by the end of this season.”

Wendt is known for her volleyball prowess, as she can fire thunderous kills across the net, but she’s also a good player around the basketball rim and could step in to fill the role left by Frankie Mattson.

The Ackerman sisters will be trying to replace Immel, who ran the point for the Mustangs the past few seasons. Matt Mattson thinks they’re capable to doing just that.

“Kianne will be a post player, but she can also certainly step out and shoot it,” the coach said. “She’s a nice little mismatch for us. We can put her down on the block, and if we need to, we can put her on the outside so she can shoot.

“I expect her to lead us in scoring and that will be her role. We’re just trying to find everyone’s role on the team because it will be different from what we’ve had the last couple of years.

“Both Ackerman girls will be guards and we’ll like to press and run. They like to do what we do. They’ve been up on varsity for four years, both of them, and we hope they play like senior guards this year.

“I think we still have some quality depth. We like to press and run and it helps when you have a little depth. We lost some key components, but I think we’re going to be OK.”

Munising is coming off a deep run to the Class D state semifinals in volleyball, so the Mustangs were a little behind getting into practice, but Mattson says that his squad will be ready to play.

“We’re two weeks late and missed 10 days of practice because of the volleyball run that we had,” he said. “I’m glad the girls had that run, though. It’s a great experience and I was hoping they’d win the whole thing.

“After a couple weeks of practice, we’ll figure out how to make up that time and get us back into basketball shape.”

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.