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Everyone’s tied up: All 4 U.P. Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association high school basketball polls have ties in their top 5

Negaunee’s Jace Turri, center, gets the ball stolen by Marquette’s David Eberhard, left, and Jordan DeMay as Turri was driving to the basket in a game played at Lakeview Memorial Gymnasium in Negaunee on Dec. 30. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

UPSSA Basketball Polls

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BOYS

Divisions 1-3 W-L Pts Pvs

1. Menominee (4) 9-1 20 1

Negaunee's Josie Thomson, center, goes for a layup in the second quarter as West Iron County's Danica Shamion, left, and Haiden Gill look on during their West PAC girls basketball game played at Lakeview Memorial Gymnasium in Negaunee on Jan. 11. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

2. Kingsford 7-1 14 3

(tie) Escanaba 6-3 14 2

4. Jeffers 7-1 5 5

5. Westwood 6-2 4 4

Others receiving votes: Negaunee (7-3) 2, Marquette (2-3) 1

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Division 4 W-L Pts Pvs

1. Ewen-Trout Creek (2) 7-0 18 1

(tie) Rudyard (2) 8-0 18 T2

3. North Central 9-1 12 T2

4. Munising 9-1 7 4

5. Wakefield-Marenisco 6-1 4 T5

Others receiving votes: Norway (6-3) 1

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GIRLS

Divisions 1-3 W-L Pts Pvs

1. Calumet (4) 9-0 20 1

2. Houghton 11-1 14 2

3. Sault Ste. Marie 8-3 13 3

4. St. Ignace 8-2 9 4

5. Negaunee 10-4 2 —

(tie) Hancock 9-2 2 —

Others receiving votes: None

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Division 4 W-L Pts Pvs

1. Baraga (3) 10-1 19 1

2. Carney-Nadeau (1) 8-1 17 2

3. Pickford 6-1 11 3

4. Ewen-Trout Creek 6-3 4 —

(tie) Rudyard 3-3 4 4

(tie) North Dickinson 7-3 4 5

Others receiving votes: Munising (7-1) 1

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MARQUETTE — Ties have suddenly become all the rage in the Upper Peninsula weekly high school basketball polls released today by the U.P. Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.

Where it’s not unlikely to get a tie or even two in the top-five ratings each week, now there are four, one in each of the quartet of rankings released each week.

In fact, one tie involves three teams, and two of the ties bring six teams into what’s supposed to be a five-team “party.”

Only one area team is involved in any of the ties, and it’s a new one to this year’s ratings — the Negaunee girls in Divisions 1-3.

The Miners (10-4) are in effect taking the place of Westwood after Negaunee knocked off the Patriots quite handily, 68-37, on Friday at Lakeview Memorial Gym in Negaunee.

Negaunee is now tied for fifth with Hancock (9-2) among the big schools. The Bulldogs are also a new entrant into the top five after having received a vote last week, with Westwood exiting and not even receiving votes anymore.

The Baraga (8-1) girls remain atop Division 4, where they took over the top spot last week and won twice since then to cement the voters’ confidence in them.

At the bottom of that top five is a three-way tie for fourth involving Ewen-Trout Creek, which was just a vote-getter last week, Rudyard, which had been fourth alone, and North Dickinson, which was fifth a week earlier.

The Munising (7-1) girls also made their entrance simply in receiving a vote, which despite an impressive record they had been unable to do previously.

For the boys, Westwood (6-2) slipped a spot to fifth in Divisions 1-3, trading places with Jeffers, which moved up one place to fourth. Kingsford and Escanaba are tied for second.

But the big news in that poll was the emergence of Negaunee (7-3) and Marquette (2-3), which while they couldn’t crack the top five, did receive votes as a possible precursor to making their presence known in the top five.

In Division 4, Munising (9-1) remained in fourth after winning two of three last week and putting the first blemish on the Mustangs’ record this season.

The statewide Associated Press weekly polls also released each Tuesday weren’t available by Mining Journal press time Monday evening.

In games involving ranked and area teams this week, for the girls, L’Anse hosts D-4 No. 4 Ewen-Trout Creek tonight.

On Monday, Westwood hosts D-1-3 No. 2 Houghton, while Superior Central hosts D-4 No. 4 North Dickinson.

For the boys, tonight L’Anse hosts D-4 No. 1 E-TC and Baraga hosts D-4 No. 5 Wakefield-Marenisco.

On Thursday, vote-getter Marquette travels to D-1-3 No. 2 Kingsford.

Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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