Ishpeming senior Jenessa Eagle, right, inbounds the ball to the Hematites’ Mya Hemmer, front left, during the MHSAA Division 4 state championship game played against Portland St. Patrick in the Breslin Center at Michigan State University in East Lansing on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Keith Dunlap)

EAST LANSING — As chants of “U.P. Power” rained down from the Breslin Center seats, players and coaches for the Ishpeming High School girls basketball team hugged and screamed with joy.

Mission complete — champions again.

For the second time in three years, Ishpeming is the state champion in Division 4 of the Michigan High School Athletic Association following a 48-28 win over Portland St. Patrick in the finals game on Saturday morning at the Michigan State University arena in East Lansing. 

As has been the case all season, the Hematites were led by senior standouts Jenessa Eagle and Mya Hemmer, who cemented their status as two of the best to ever play in the Upper Peninsula. 

Eagle finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds in her last game before she will embark on a college career at Michigan Tech.

Hemmer had a dominant all-around game, finishing just short of an unusual but highly productive triple-double — adding to her 18 points and 17 rebounds were nine blocked shots and six steals.

She also eclipsed 1,000 career points in the last game she will play with the Hematites before heading south for Texas to play volleyball for NCAA Division I Baylor.

“This is my last organized basketball game, which is sad for me,” Hemmer said. “This is my first sport and my first love. I changed to volleyball my freshman year, so it’s kind of a shock I’m already done.

“I’m going to be honest. I don’t like running. So I’ll stick with volleyball.”

Ishpeming completed its journey to append another state title to one it captured in 2024 after a grueling week, starting with the historic snowstorm that struck the whole of the Upper Peninsula, certainly not leaving western Marquette County out of its wrath.

Ishpeming-area residents had to dig out and find a way to get downstate, doing so a little later than planned because its MHSAA quarterfinal game against Indian River Inland Lakes was pushed back from Tuesday to Wednesday after it had already been moved from the relative closeness of Gladstone downstate to Gaylord.

The Hematites easily won that battle, though, but had to turn around and play its next game, the semifinals, against Morenci in East Lansing less than 24 hours later.

Ishpeming pulled out a 37-34 win on tired legs, shooting 0 for 22 from the 3-point line. 

It was a different IHS team against St. Patrick, a traditional power making its first appearance in a title game since 2006.

“Starting two games within a 24-hour span at this high level is not easy,” Hematites veteran head coach Ryan Reichel said. “They showed that U.P. grit in the last game on Thursday that we won. (Saturday), you got to see them do it with fresh legs and energy. The defensive pressure was remarkable.” 

The difference in Saturday’s title tilt was the second quarter, when Ishpeming (25-3) outscored St. Patrick 15-0 — not for part of the quarter, but for the entire period — to take a 29-13 lead at halftime after being up just 14-13 entering the stanza. 

The second quarter was the major part of a Hematites’ 19-0 run that staked them to a 32-13 advantage, with St. Patrick going scoreless for more than 10 minutes, spanning the last 18 seconds of the first quarter through the first 1:53 of the third quarter. 

St. Patrick (23-6) finally did find some footing late in the third and early in the fourth quarters, going on an 8-0 run to cut Ishpeming’s lead to 36-24 with 6:39 remaining.

But Ishpeming didn’t allow St. Patrick to get any closer, and the celebration was on. The only drama in the waning minutes was whether Hemmer would get a triple-double with her 10th block or break the state record of 11 blocks in a game set by Madison Williams of Detroit Country Day.

Hemmer was subbed out before she could get the 10th, but the championship was all that mattered.

“We don’t chase records,” said Reichel, adding he probably cost Eagle getting to the career 2,000-point mark this season by taking her out of lopsided games. “When you chase records, you kind of show up the other team. We weren’t chasing that record.”

Indeed, it was all about chasing a championship for Ishpeming, an objective that was accomplished.

“I remember the first time coming here (in 2024), I was like shaking, sweating and on the verge of tears,” Eagle said. “I think coming back here, it proved our maturity.

“(This time it was) not being nervous and helping our other teammates who haven’t played here, guiding them to be less nervous.”

Ishpeming had an 18-win season last year, but was bumped up to Division 3 and didn’t make it to East Lansing.

Back in Division 4 again this year, the Hematites are champions again. 

Ishpeming 48, Portland St. Patrick 28

Saturday at East Lansing

MHSAA Division 4 championship

Summary (field goals, free throws, total points)

PORTLAND ST. PATRICK — Smith 1-2-5, Rockey 4-2-10, Sandborn 1-0-3, Leonard 2-0-4, Davlin 2-0-4, Lansdell 1-0-2. Totals 11-4-28.

ISHPEMING — Eagle 7-3-19, Hares 2-0-5, Piotrowski 1-4-6, hemmer 8-2-18. Totals 18-9-48.

Score by quarters:

Portland St. Patrick 13 0 7 8 — 28

Ishpeming 14 15 7 12 — 48

FG shooting: Portland St. Patrick 11 of 54 (20.4 percent), Ishpeming 18 of 55 (32.7 percent); 3-point shooting: Portland St. Patrick 2-20 (10 percent), Ishpeming 3 of 19 (15.8 percent); FT shooting: Portland St. Patrick 4 of 5 (80 percent), Ishpeming 9 of 13 (69.2 percent); Rebounding, Portland St. Patrick 37 (Macie Leonard 7), Ishpeming 45 (Mya Hemmer 17); Assists, Portland St. Patrick 5 (Marian Davlin 2), Ishpeming 9 (Brittanie Piotrowski 4); Steals, Portland St. Patrick 8 (Macie Smith 3), Ishpeming 7 (Hemmer 6); Turnovers, Portland St. Patrick 14, Ishpeming 12.

Ishpeming 37, Morenci 34

Thursday at East Lansing

MHSAA Division 4 semifinals

Summary (field goals, free throws, total points)

MORENCI — Ekins 8-2-18, Valentine 1-0-2, Bachelder 3-8-14. Totals 12-10-34.

ISHPEMING — Eagle 9-2-20, Hemmer 6-3-15, Gauthier 1-0-2. Totals 16-5-37.

Score by quarters:

Morenci 12 8 7 7 — 34

Ishpeming 6 12 7 12 — 37

FG shooting: Morenci 12 of 44 (27.3 percent), Ishpeming 16 of 57 (28.1 percent); 3-point shooting: Morenci 0 of 5 (0 percent), Ishpeming 0 of 22 (0 percent); FT shooting: Morenci 10 of 16 (62.5 percent), Ishpeming 5 of 8 (62.5 percent); Rebounding, Morenci 51 (Emersyn Bachelder 13), Ishpeming 28 (Mya Hemmer 15); Assists, Morenci 8 (Evelyn Joughin 5), Ishpeming 4 (4 players with 1 each); Steals, Morenci 7 (Addyson Valentine 3), Ishpeming 16 (Jenessa Eagle 5); Turnovers, Morenci 31, Ishpeming 15.

Keith Dunlap of Lake Orion also writes for the Michigan High School Athletic Association and several media and social media websites, and is a past sports writer for the Oakland Press. He has written stories for The Mining Journal the past three high school basketball postseasons, when the Westwood boys team reached the MHSAA Division 3 semifinals in 2025, the Ishpeming girls won the Division 4 title in 2024 and when the Munising boys won their Division 4 title in 2023.