Munising’s Kelsea Ackerman, left, looks for a shot against Norway’s Jaclyn Bal in a Skyline Central Conference girls basketball game played Tuesday. (Iron Mountain Daily News photo by Burt Angeli)

GWINN — The regular way didn’t work for Gwinn coach Ben Olsen, so he employed an exotic defensive strategy against undefeated Negaunee in a girls basketball game played Tuesday night.

It got the Modeltowners closer as the Upper Peninsula No. 2 team in Class A-B-C prevailed 45-33 to improve to 18-0 overall and 11-0 in the Mid-Peninsula Conference.

“When we played them before (on Feb. 2), they beat us 52-18 when we played straight up,” Olsen said. “This time we played an ol’ triangle and two on them. We were going to make their role players beat us, someone other than Johnson and Bartle.”

Gwinn (8-9, 3-6) kept the Miners’ stars, seniors Natalie Bartle and Clara Johnson, to a combined nine points and just two baskets.

Instead, Negaunee junior Abby Nelson broke loose for 16 points and senior Ielee Shiroda added 13 points as each grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

“I want to give a ton of credit to our players,” Olsen said. “They followed our game plan to perfection.

“But you have to also give a lot of credit to Shiroda and Nelson. They stepped up when Negaunee needed them to.”

Junior Trisha McGuire paced the Modeltowners with 14 points, while teammate Tierra Taylor pulled in a game-high 10 rebounds to go with six points.

The Modeltowners play at Gladstone on Thursday, while Negaunee hosts Westwood on Friday.

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Westwood 48, West Iron County 39

At Iron River, the Patriots (12-5) were able to maintain a narrow fourth-quarter lead by making 10 of 12 free throws, including 6 of 6 by sophomore Madi Koski.

“We were able to control the clock as we were able to hang onto a three- or four-point lead in the last few minutes,” WHS coach Kurt Corcoran said.

A pair of sophomores each scored 18 points — Westwood’s Tessa Leece and WIC’s Eden Golliher. Koski added 12 points while senior teammate Marissa Carello scored 10. And the Patriots’ Elizabeth Farley pulled in 11 rebounds to go with seven points.

The Wykons won the JV game 40-37.

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Munising 61, Norway 41

At Norway, the U.P.’s No. 1 ranked Class D team needed a strong fourth quarter to put away the Knights.

The Mustangs carried a 43-33 lead into the fourth quarter. Kianne Wendt scored a game-high 27 points.

Norway (5-13, 3-6) had 21 fouls, with two girls fouling out. Munising converted 18 of 25 free throws.

The Knights visit Superior Central on Tuesday.

Munising defeated Norway 36-32 in the JV game.

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Ewen-Trout Creek 58, Republic-Michigamme 31

At Ewen, the Hawks were right in the game until a bad third quarter spelled doom.

Leading just 26-18 at halftime, E-TC (13-3, 11-2 Copper Mountain Conference) went on a 24-7 outburst to go up 50-25 entering the final quarter.

“We had a pretty good first half, we broke their press and had a couple fast breaks,” R-M coach April Radcliffe said.

Junior Nikki Wertanen led Hawks’ scorers with seven points, while freshman Allie Radcliffe, sophomore Tailyn Raisanen and junior Kaitlin Ambuehl each scored six points.

R-M plays at Wakefield-Marenisco on Thursday.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee with contributions from the Iron Mountain Daily News. Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.