Too much to handle: 1,000-point scorer Riley Poupore leads Iron Mountain Mountaineers girls basketball team past Ishpeming Hematites

Iron Mountain’s Saylor Swartout, center, struggles with Ishpeming’s Kayla Koski, left, and Madison Pruett for a loose ball in the third quarter on Monday at the Hematites’ gym. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

ISHPEMING — Now that she’s gotten 1,000 career points out of the way, maybe Iron Mountain senior Riley Poupore is looking at 2,000.

The IM player, who reached the milestone against Negaunee on Friday, broke loose for 35 more on Monday as the Mountaineers prevailed at Ishpeming 59-48 in a high school girls basketball game played Monday.

“In the first half we dug ourselves a big hole but crawled back,” Ishpeming head coach Ryan Reichel said. “In the second half we started to compete harder. We had it down to five (points) and got a handful of offensive rebounds on the same possession but didn’t convert.

“Poupore came down and did what a four-year starter and 1,000-point scorer does. She was amazing and we couldn’t answer all the tough shots she hit. Our girls tried but sometimes you just say ‘nice shot’ and go back on offense.”

The Mountaineers (5-8) led by just four after one quarter before they went on a 17-10 run in the second to pull ahead 30-19 at halftime.

Ishpeming (3-9) had a 17-point quarter of its own in the third to cut its deficit to 41-36 with eight minutes to go.

IM’s Emma Thomann added 11 points, while Ishpeming was led by sophomore guard Madisyn Mead and senior guard Madison Pruett with 14 points each as sophomore guard Jocelynn Nyman scored 10.

Ishpeming travels to Gwinn (7-4) on Wednesday while Iron Mountain hosts Manistique (2-10) on Thursday.

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L’Anse 63, Houghton 53

At Houghton, Maija and Josie Rice each scored 18 points as the Purple Hornets imrpoved to 7-5.

“It was a good win for us,” L’Anse head coach Scott Lloyd said. “Houghton is in a rebuilding year, and both teams pretty much played their whole bench. We learned a lot about our team and (Houghton head coach) Julie (Filpus) learned a lot about hers.

“Houghton kept climbing back into it after we went on some runs which made things interesting.”

The Gremlins fell to 1-11 on the season as L’Anse completed the season sweep.

Junior Addison Mattson added 11 points for L’Anse.

L’Anse hosts Calumet (7-7) on Thursday.

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Ontonagon 52, Republic-Michigamme 28

At Republic, the Hawks (2-8) were unable to fight back from a 15-0 first-quarter deficit as Ontonagon improved to 9-3.

R-M found itself down 25-4 at halftime. The Hawks scored 24 points in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to catch the Gladiators.

Senior Nikki Wertanen led the Hawks with eight points while junior Tailyn Raisanen and senior Kaitlin Ambuehl had seven apiece.

R-M hosts Stephenson (4-6) Thursday.

Ontonagon also won the JV game 59-12.

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North Dickinson 72, Superior Central 24

At North Dickinson, eight of nine Nordics found the basket for an explosive offensive night which helped ND improve to 7-6.

The Cougars (0-10) were down 23-3 after one quarter and 44-8 at halftime.

SC was held to single digits in the second half as well, scoring nine in the third and seven in the fourth.

The Cougars were led by senior Jada Johnson with eight points, while Briana Smith had eight of her 10 points in the opening quarter for the Nordics (7-6). ND’s Kylie Gustafson scored 14 points, while Chrislyn Inglese had 11 and Ashton Hord 10.

ND won the JV game 35-26.

SC travels to Big Bay de Noc (1-8) on Thursday.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Writer Ryan Spitza with contributions from the Iron Mountain Daily News. Email Spitza at sports@miningjournal.net.