×

Munising Mustangs girls basketball team searches for more postseason success

Munising’s Jenna Matson shoots in a game against Bark River-Harris on Jan. 14, 2020, in Harris. (Escanaba Daily Press photo by Justin St. Ours)

Editor’s note: This is the first of a series of season previews of Marquette and Alger County high school basketball teams as the girls’ season starts on Monday and the boys season commences on Monday, Dec. 6.

—————–

MUNISING — After a slow start to last season for the Munising girls basketball team, the Mustangs were able to win seven times in an eight-game stretch and win an MHSAA Division 4 district tournament championship.

Munising fell in the regionals to Carney-Nadeau, but completely changed how its season would be remembered after a 1-6 start.

“I think last year, everybody was in the same boat, but with no summer and COVID issues, it did take us a little bit to find our bearings, so to say,” Munising coach Matt Mattson said. “We also had some young kids who came up during the second half of the season, and that also helped us out. It was a little bit just a work in progress and not a ton of kids with varsity experience.”

This year’s Munising squad will bring back all-conference caliber players and will have underclassmen with some varsity experience to help fill in the scoring. The leader of the offense will be senior point guard Jenna Matson, who was on the Skyline Central Conference First Team a season ago.

“We have five seniors back this year, all (who) played varsity minutes,” Mattson said. “Jenna obviously, is a First Team all-conference-type player, and will be our leader. We expect leadership out of her, she’ll have to do some scoring for us and she’s be our point guard.

“So she’s key to our success, but I feel good about our seniors in general.”

Lori Mattson, Alivia Killups, Kenzie Richardson and Valerie Johnson round out the senior group for Munising, a group that Mattson wouldn’t trade for anybody, he said.

What Coach Mattson loves about his seniors is that they’re team-first players. The scoring will come from the not-as-experienced underclassmen around Jenna Matson, and the group has been one of leaders.

“I think our seniors have just been leaders by knowing their role and playing their roles very well,” Mattson said. “It’s not always easy to do when a younger underclassman comes up and maybe plays more minutes or scores more points, but I think our seniors have done a nice job adjusting and knowing their roles.

“That’s one of the reasons that we’ve been successful is that players know their roles and understand that the team comes first.”

Junior Monique Brisson and sophomores Julia Prunick and Emerson Crisp return after playing varsity minutes last year, and are all going to be asked to be involved in the scoring department.

The team also adds freshman Bailey Corcoran, who Mattson said he expects to have a nice career at Munising.

With a normal summer to help the younger players get acclimated, Mattson feels like things are leaps and bounds ahead of last season. Munising hosts Newberry on Tuesday and Superior Central on Friday to begin the season, and getting off to a good start this time around will be key.

“Both teams are pretty close to us, they’re pretty good rivalries for us,” Mattson said. “We’ll definitely have to be ready to play, both teams beat us in the regular season last year. They’re both quality teams.”

Travis Nelson can be reached by email at tnelson@miningjournal.net.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today