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Romp and a milestone: Alyssa Hill scores 1,000th point in Negaunee Miners’ girls basketball win over Westwood

Alyssa Hill of Negaunee joined the high school girls basketball 1,000-point club on Friday in a home win against Westwood at Lakeview Memorial Gymnasium. In the main photo, teammates and coaches celebrate right after the feat. In the inset photos, clockwise from top left, Hill makes the basket that gets her to 1,000; teammates celebrate immediately after that basket is scored; Hill poses with a 1,000-point commemorative ball; teammates rush Hill on the court; and Negaunee athletic director Paul Jacobson presents the commemoriative ball to Hill. (Photo illustration courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

“She’s earned this, she’s put a lot time and sweat into getting to this point.” — Mike O’Donnell, Negaunee girls basketball head coach, on Alyssa Hill reaching 1,000 points

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NEGAUNEE — The roles reversed since the last time that the Negaunee and Westwood girls basketball teams squared off, a Patriot 14-point win on Dec. 28.

This time, behind a balanced attack with four Miners scoring in double figures led by Alyssa Hill’s 18 points, Negaunee led coast to coast in a 68-37 thrashing on Friday night.

Hill’s night pushed her past the career 1,000-point total, too.

Teammates, coaches and school officials mob Alyssa Hill, player furthest left, after she scored her 1,000th high school basketball point in the Miners' game against Westwood on Friday night at Lakeview Memorial Gymnasium in Negaunee. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

Negaunee (9-4) hasn’t lost since that game at Westwood, with its winning streak reaching six. The late-December loss left the Miners with a little soul searching to do, according to coach Mike O’Donnell, but they knew they had a chance to get revenge less than a month down the road.

“It obviously didn’t leave a good taste in our mouths how we played there, so we really got after it in practice,” O’Donnell said. “We knew we would turn around and play them again in a few weeks, so we wanted to build and use each game as a stepping stone and get better.”

Negaunee committed plenty of turnovers in the previous meeting due to intense Westwood pressure, so limiting the giveaways was the key in this matchup. This time it was Negaunee that came out with their “hair on fire” and had the Westwood offense out of sorts.

“To be honest with you, Negaunee came out punching and we just didn’t punch back,” Westwood coach Annie Skewis said. “They came out ready to play and they actually wanted it more.”

Natalie Prophet scored the game’s first points with a layup off of a steal, resulting in Westwood’s only lead of the game of 2-0. Negaunee responded with a 9-0 run with baskets from Ella Mason, Summer Dudo and Emily Gauthier. Despite the slow start, Westwood got within 12-8 with Alyssa and Natalie Prophet keeping the game afloat. Gauthier scored four more points down the stretch of the first and the Miners led 18-12 after one.

WHS wasn’t out of the game yet, but after scoring 12 points in the first quarter, the Patriots managed just 14 more from the start of the second quarter until five minutes were left in the fourth.

The Negaunee defense held Westwood to only one basket in the second quarter and just two in the third. The Miners, led by Hill and Cooper Atkins in the second, outscored Westwood 19-3 in the period to take a 37-15 halftime lead. Atkins had seven points in the quarter alone, with Hill scoring six.

“We really spent a lot of time on what Westwood likes to do, and try to make sure that we were matched up well,” O’Donnell said. “They caught us off guard a few times in the first game. Tonight, we were ready for some of the things they were doing.”

Five Miners scored in the third, and with another strong defensive effort, NHS outscored Westwood 18-9 to take a 55-24 lead into the fourth.

Negaunee made it a mission to find Hill down low in the post during the final quarter to get her to 1,000 points. Making a move down low, Hill was able to score and the celebration ensued. The game stopped for a presentation of a basketball recognizing the accolade, followed by a mobbing by her teammates.

“She’s been tremendous, I’m proud of her, she’s a workhorse,” O’Donnell said. “She’s earned this, she’s put a lot of time and sweat into getting to this point. It’s fun to see her do it in front of a big crowd on her home floor.”

Negaunee put the finishing touches on to cruise to the 31-point win.

The Miners got 11 points from Dudo, 10 each from Gauthier and Atkins and nine points from Mason.

Natalie Prophet led all scorers with 19 points, while Alyssa Prophet had 12. Mallory Leece was the only other Patriot to make a field goal.

“Our offense wasn’t there tonight at all, I actually talked to the girls about how you’re not going to win very many games with only one or two assists on the stat sheet,” Skewis said. “Obviously not very good ball movement and it really hurt us.”

Negaunee has two home games over the next 10 days before going on the road for its final four games to end the regular season.

With the postseason approaching quickly, a performance like this has this Miner team coming together at the right time.

“Tonight I told the girls ‘It’s fun to watch it all come together’ and it came together tonight,” O’Donnell said. “We put four quarters together, we had balanced scoring all over the place. As a coach, it’s how you draw it up and envision it, and it’s fun to see when it happens.”

Westwood goes to Gwinn on Tuesday, while Negaunee hosts Iron Mountain on Friday.

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

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