Westwood’s Madi Koski strips the ball away from Negaunee’s Emilia Palomaki in the first quarter of their MHSAA Division 3 district tournament game played at the Patriots’ gym on Monday. Also defending is Westwood’s Emily Nelson. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

ISHPEMING — The Westwood girls basketball team has found its Prophet.

Natalie Prophet, that is. She has been the Patriots’ secret weapon the past few games and on Monday night, she was locked and loaded during Westwood’s MHSAA Division 3 district tournament game against Negaunee.

Prophet dropped in 17 points to lead the Patriots past the Miners 49-37 at Westwood High School. Teammate Karlie Patron scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds for WHS, while Tessa Leece chipped in 10 points.

Abby Nelson and Kenzie Karki each had 13 points for Negaunee.

Prophet has been hot since being called up from the junior varsity late in the season and she might be the last piece the Patriots need to make a deep run in the tournament.

“She brings us to a whole other level,” Westwood head coach Kurt Corcoran said. “The biggest part about being a freshman and being able to play varsity is you’ve got to be strong and she’s the strongest girl on the floor.

“She’s fearless, she’s a great athlete and she’s just a natural. You see some of the moves out there and she looks like a guard putting on a little shake-and-bake. She finishes at the rim and she rebounds.

“Teams have been trying to figure out how to stop Madi (Koski) and Tessa all season long. They finally did it, and now we have Natalie and Karlie step up and take charge.

“I think that’s a little bit scary for our opponents, thinking that they’ve held Madi and Tessa in check and now, Natalie goes off for 17. We’re rolling, it’s March and I couldn’t be prouder of the effort they put forth.”

For Negaunee, it was a frustrating night as the Miners stifled the Patriots’ potent backcourt of Leece and Koski, holding Koski without a field goal. But Prophet and Patron worked their way into the paint and Negaunee just couldn’t find an answer.

“It started right from the beginning,” Miners head coach Brandon Sager said. “We started out a step slow defensively and they’re the type of explosive offensive team that can take advantage of that.

“So they had us kind of backpedaling from the get-go and I think that transferred over to the offensive end. We got a little rushed and our cuts weren’t sharp and our passes weren’t crisp.

“It was kind of a funk and we talked about it — ‘If we get down, don’t panic. We’re going to chip back.’

“We were able to get some stops in the third, but we just couldn’t score. It was very reminiscent of the last time we were here. It was almost like an exact type of situation.

“They’re just so good offensively that if you can get stops and can’t match them, then they go to the free throw line and they don’t miss many of those.

“It’s really hard to pick away at a deficit against a team like they have.”

Westwood jumped out to a 7-0 lead, which included a nice putback from Patron, before Negaunee ended the run with a Payton Drew reverse layup.

The Patriots continued to stay strong, though, as Prophet hit a trey and Leece knocked down a jumper with one second left to help give Westwood an 18-9 lead going into the second.

The Patriots kept rolling with Prophet opening the quarter with a three-point play and eventually, padded their lead to 15.

The Miners got the deficit down to 10 on a triple from Karki and a bucket from Drew, but Leece answered back with a layup after getting a nice pass from Koski. Westwood led 28-18 at the half.

Negaunee tried to get back into it in the third quarter thanks to some good play in the paint from Nelson and Alexis Hill, but any time the Miners seemed to generate some momentum, Westwood had a quick answer. A Patron jumper helped Westwood take a 39-28 lead after three.

The Miners cut Westwood’s lead down to single digits twice in the fourth thanks to a steal and layup from Karki and a jumper from Nelson, but the Patriots hit their free throws down the stretch to close out the win.

Westwood hosts Bark River-Harris in the district semifinals Wednesday.

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