Fans surround the Negaunee girls basketball team on the floor after the Miners defeated Flint Powers Catholic 50-45 to win an MHSAA Division 2 quarterfinal game played in Sault Ste. Marie on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy Mike O’Donnell)

SAULT STE. MARIE — Players on the Negaunee High School girls basketball team have never seen the Miners play at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center, unless they went to watch the Negaunee boys teams of 2008, 2013 or 2014 — when they were toddlers or quite young girls.

But their head coach, Mike O’Donnell, saw it up close in each of those years earlier this century as he was the head coach of those teams.

So O’Donnell might be able to deliver some pointers to his current 26-1 Miners girls when they play Detroit Edison in the MHSAA Division 2 state semifinals at 5:30 p.m. Friday. They’re looking for a berth in the state championship game to be played at 6:45 p.m. Saturday back at the Breslin and also televised on Bally Sports Detroit-Extra.

“These girls are elated,” O’Donnell said in an email detailing Tuesday’s result. “Our girls program has never been to the semifinals. They are making history and we are thrilled to be headed to the Breslin and part of the Final Four.”

He hopes these Negaunee girls can one-up those boys teams of his, none of which could get past the semis and onto the state championship game. Interestingly, each of those Miners boys squads were like this NHS girls teams, sporting one loss entering the semis.

Negaunee’s most recent state title came in 2000 when the boys were coached by Tom Russo.

For the current crop of girls, they had to get a boost in confidence after defeating a “big city” school, Flint Powers Catholic, 50-45 on Tuesday night in Sault Ste. Marie.

“It was a phenomenal performance from our girls tonight,” O’Donnell said. “This was a back-and-forth war for 32 minutes and we found a way to dig deep and get it done. I can’t say enough about our resiliency and will to win down the stretch.

“In March you look for players who maybe aren’t always in the spotlight to step up and give you a boost. Tonight that player was Callie Rajala. Fourteen points in the second half was the the difference for us tonight.

“Powers Catholic got into some foul trouble and went into a zone (defense), something we hadn’t really seen from them. It flustered us in the first half. We made some adjustments at halftime and played much better against it.”

Rajala, a senior, took over the Miners’ offense in the second half after scoring just two first-half points to finish as Negaunee’s leading scorer with 16 points. Not only was she the only Miner with multiple baskets in the second half, she hit a pair of 3-pointers, two-thirds of the team’s total, after halftime.

All-time Negaunee scorer and senior Ella Mason added 12 points, though she did most of her damage at the free-throw line, making 7 of 10 there. Freshman Gretel Johnson scored six points, while another freshman, Keira Waterman, had five points.

Powers’ Kendyl Smith led all scorers with 17 points, but like Mason, was most effective at the line, making 7 of 11 there. She also hit her team’s only triple.

Both teams spent a lot of time at the line with moderate success, combining to make 29 of 48 free throws — Powers (23-4) hit on 16 of 26 (62%) and Negaunee 13 of 22 (59%).

Negaunee jumped out to a 17-13 lead after one quarter on the strength of making 5 of 5 free throws — two each by Mason and Johnson and one by Waterman to complete a traditional three-point play. Smith had seven of the Chargers’ points then.

Powers nearly caught the Miners in the second quarter, getting to within 25-24 at halftime, then actually did catch their opposition by the end of the third, entering the final eight minutes in a 37-37 tie.

But Rajala came up with nine points, including one of her 3s, in the fourth, which was when Mason made a trio of free throws.

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