NEGAUNEE — So far, the Negaunee High School girls basketball team is getting the last laugh.

The Miners, unranked in Upper Peninsula polls recently despite a long winning streak, came up victorious for the 17th time in a row to reach the 20-win plateau this season after knocking off U.P. No. 2 Calumet 51-46 at Lakeview Memorial Gym in Negaunee on Wednesday evening.

It came in the semifinals of an MHSAA Division 3 district tournament that is being hosted by Gwinn, two days after Negaunee knocked off Westwood 45-37.

Now the Miners (20-4) have a tall task while going for their 18th win in a row tonight when they play at unanimous U.P. No. 1 Hancock at the Bulldogs’ gym at 6 p.m.

Hancock (20-1) reached the district final with their own semifinal win on Wednesday night, beating Ishpeming 53-37.

Negaunee head coach Mike O’Donnell was happy to relish Wednesday’s win in its aftermath, though.

“This was another really great March basketball game between two teams who left it all on the floor tonight,” the Miners coach said in an email sent not long after the game was over. “I respect the Calumet program very much, they are well coached and their girls just come at you for 32 minutes.

“I’m super proud of all my girls’ effort. Total team buy-in.”

The Miners got off to a bit of a slow start, at least offensively, trailing 12-9 after one quarter before pulling ahead 22-20 at halftime.

They extended the lead to 36-31 after three quarters before each team put up 15 points in the final period.

“Just when we thought we had some breathing room, as we made a run to push the lead to 10, they come storming back to trail only by a point,” O’Donnell said about the second half. “It made for another outstanding finish.

“We were able to get a few key stops down the stretch, some huge rebounds, took care of the ball against their press, and most importantly, made 6 of 7 free throws in the fourth quarter.

“Ella Mason was phenomenal offensively against a defense that was geared toward stopping her and an excellent on-ball defender in (Calumet’s Caitlyn) Strom.

“My ‘post players’ were probably the other heroes of the night. (Grace) Nardi, (Madison) Pekrul and (Theresa) Anderson gave up a huge size advantage inside, yet, (they) just worked their tails off and helped slow Calumet’s game plan of attacking us down low.

“Throw Cooper Atkins in there as well as she had to go down and battle a few times as well.”

Mason had one of her big offensive nights when the Miners needed it most, scoring 32 points that included hitting six 3-pointers — including at least one every quarter — and 5 of 8 free throws.

Negaunee spread the rest of its scoring around as Atkins had eight points and Nardi seven.

Pacing the Copper Kings (16-5) was Storm with 14 points as she sank 7 of 8 free throws, while Jackie Kiilunen and Laura Kariniemi each scored eight points.

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Munising 70, Big Bay de Noc 28

On Wednesday at Munising, the visiting Black Bears didn’t have the roster to keep up with the Mustangs for an entire four quarters.

Munising advances to the MHSAA Division 4 district championship game to be played at Superior Central this evening, tentatively at 6 p.m.

The Cougars (12-7) downed Mid Peninsula 57-39 in Wednesday’s other district semifinal.

Big Bay was on a hot streak, having won a pair of games while capturing the Northern Lights League tournament over the weekend, then downing district tourney host Rapid River 48-32 at the Rockets’ gym on Monday evening.

But the Black Bears ran into a much deeper squad at Munising on Wednesday.

“I think our depth was a factor in getting the win, especially in the second half,” Mustangs head coach Matt Mattson said by phone afterward.

BBdN stayed within 16-14 after one quarter against possibly the best Division 4 team not getting votes in the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association weekly poll.

Munising (15-5) lengthened its lead a bit in the second quarter, taking a 34-23 halftime lead, before blowing things open in the second half. The Mustangs held a 17-3 scoring advantage in the third quarter and 19-2 in the fourth for the 42-point win.

Eleven players scored for Munising as Mattson emptied his bench in the second half. Mustangs sophomore Bailey Corcoran led all scorers with 18 points, while junior teammate Julia Prunick added 10, junior Emmy Crisp had nine and senior Monique Brisson and sophomore Dayne Behning contributed eight apiece.

“Bailey played very well again,” Mattson said. “I believe that’s at least 17 points for her in five straight games.”

The Black Bears, who end their season with a nifty 16-7 record, were led by Camryn Pederson with nine points.

The Munising coach was also pleased with another facet of the game.

“Our Senior Night got canceled last week because of the storm,” Mattson said, “but tonight all of our seniors scored. So it was a good night.”

That quartet is Brisson, Athina Johnson, Ireland Anderson and Cassidy Britton.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.