Negaunee junior guard Larissa Anderson, center, pulls up for a shot while Westwood junior center Ellie Miller, second from right, defends in their MHSAA Division 3 district championship game played at Lakeview Memorial Gymnasium in Negaunee on Friday night. (Journal photo by Ryan Spitza)

NEGAUNEE — After a tough road defeat at Negaunee on Feb. 21, Kurt Corcoran knew his Westwood girls basketball team needed to step up entering Lakeview Memorial Gym this time around.

Westwood did just that, edging the Miners 48-44 in an MHSAA Division 3 girls district championship game to collect their second consecutive district title.

Westwood’s Tessa Leece was held in check all night, as Negaunee limited the Michigan Tech recruit to just five points, all coming at the free throw line.

No need to worry for the Patriots, however, as they received a 19-point performance from Karlie Patron while Madi Koski added 15.

Upper Peninsula Divisions 1-3 No. 3 Westwood (21-2) will now head to Marquette on Tuesday, squaring off with U.P. No. 4 Calumet (19-3) in a regional semifinal. The Patriots won their lone regular-season contest 59-45.

It was only the second win inside Lakeview Memorial Gym for Corcoran as a head coach, with the last one coming back in the 2013-14 season.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this is a tough gym to play in,” he said. “I know Negaunee doesn’t like playing in our gym and we don’t like playing in their gym. We knew we had our backs against the wall just with the atmosphere this place brings.

“I thought the girls showed a lot of resiliency (tonight). We had every opportunity to crack. Negaunee had all kinds of runs and we just couldn’t put them away.”

It became a game of free throws at the end with the Patriots going just 4 for 10 at the line in the final 1:18.

Up 46-44 with under five seconds remaining, Leece went to the line and split the charity shots, missing the second one to give Negaunee one final chance.

That chance was quickly taken away by Westwood’s Natalie Prophet, however, who grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled. Prophet hit one of her two free throws to seal the result.

“Resiliency is really the key word,” Corcoran said. “Except for when it came down to hitting those free throws at the end. We just couldn’t put it away. But even with that, every missed free throw adds a bit of nerves to the girls and they stepped up. Tessa missed that second free throw and Natalie came away with the offensive rebound.

“I’m so proud of these girls, I’m so proud of this community and everybody that’s been here. It’s an incredible feeling.”

That feeling is even more special for Patron, who won a district championship in her former school’s gym.

“It’s tough to play down here,” she said. “When I play here, it means something else, because I transferred from (Negaunee). So it means a lot to get the ‘W’ here.”

Patron added that she and her fellow seniors are ready to keep the ball rolling as long as they can.

“This is huge momentum for us seniors. We already kind of had that senior mentality where we don’t want it to end, we’re not ready for it to end. We’re going to keep going and keep playing.”

Negaunee finished its season with a record of 16-7, an impressive run with a young team for first-year head coach Mike O’Donnell.

O’Donnell said every time his team closed the gap, the Patriots had an answer.

“That felt like the story of the night,” he said. “They would pull ahead, we would fight back and make it close, and then they’d make another push, right until the end when we got it down to two points and had the ball. As a coach and as the underdog, that’s the position you want to be in.

“Give credit to Westwood. That’s what you expect out of a veteran team who’s been here before and made this run. They responded the way you would expect them to respond.”

The Miners lose just two seniors in Breanne Giotto and Chloe Norman, and O’Donnell had nothing but praise for his team’s leaders.

“I’ve only had them one year, but in that one year they were phenomenal,” he said. “As far as me not having to really coach them on how to lead, I didn’t have to do any of that this year. Being new to the program, to have your two seniors be able to lead by example the way they did, and the way they played and how hard they played, you can’t ask anything more and that’s what I told the girls after the game. It can be one lasting thing that they left for our program that all these younger girls will see.

“I’m very proud of those two and thankful for them to help my transition as best as they could.”

Koski came out firing with the first five points of the game before a Patron triple made it 8-0 Westwood early on. Alyssa Hill finally put the Miners on the board with 2:50 remaining in the first to end the run.

Westwood led 13-4 after one quarter with eight of those points coming from Koski.

Negaunee’s Lilly Nelson was the sharpshooter in the second, hitting three triples to help pull the Miners within five points by halftime. The Patriots led 26-21 at the break.

Another Nelson 3 late in the third quarter cut Westwood’s lead to 36-33, and a putback from Morgan Carlson made it a one-point game shortly after that. Patron added a bucket just before the buzzer to put her team up 40-37 after three.

A 2-pointer off the glass from Hill made it 44-42 with 3:04 remaining, but the Miners were unable to get any closer than that.

Hill and Nelson led the Miners with 12 points each while Norman added eight. Prophet had seven for Westwood.

Westwood shot over 52 percent from the field going 19 of 36. Negaunee was 18 of 37 for nearly 49 percent.

Prophet finished with five of Westwood’s 15 rebounds. Negaunee had 18 boards with Norman collecting five.

The regional semifinal between Westwood and Calumet is slated for 6 p.m. Tuesday at Marquette Senior High School.

Email Ryan Spitza at sports@miningjournal.net.