By CRAIG REMSBURG

Senior Sports Writer

NEGAUNEE – Smothering, ball-hawking defense.

The Negaunee High School girls basketball team guarded Manistique so closely Friday night the visiting Emeralds were nearly wearing Negaunee jerseys.

The host Miners held the Emeralds to just 11 first-half points behind constant defensive pressure in a 63-26 Mid-Peninsula Conference victory.

“We’ve never really used full-court pressure here,” NHS head coach Brandon Sager said. “It’s not something I’ve ever done. But we have the personnel to do that now.

“The girls have really bought into the concept of pressure defense and we’ll continue to apply that pressure.”

The constant pressure on the ball not only disrupted the Emeralds’ offense, but led to a reported 21 turnovers.

“That figure might be low,” Manistique first-year head coach David Winkel sighed. “Right from the opening tip, (the Miners) got on us defensively. We were never able to get any offensive flow.

“It didn’t allow us to get to our (offensive) spots. It also led to a lot of easy transition baskets for them.”

NHS junior guard Aleda Johnson, who scored a game-high 16 points, said that was Negaunee’s plan.

“Our offense feeds off our defense in transition and fast break baskets,” she said after the Miners improved to 1-1 overall in their opening M-PC game.

“We came out knowing defense would win the game. We knew we’d have to be intense, pressure the ball and cause turnovers.”

Emily Grant and Madysen Kontio added 11 points apiece for Negaunee; Allie Nagy notched five to go with four steals for Manistique (0-2, 0-1).

The Miners controlled play in the opening quarter en route to a 16-7 lead. But Negaunee opened the second stanza with seven quick points – three on a Johnson triple – and never looked back.

Kontio (11) and Johnson (9) combined for 20 points in the first half.

The third quarter saw the Miners open with a 10-0 run behind four points by Johnson, but the Emeralds went on a 6-0 run of their own on buckets by Nagy, Bre Richey and Sydney Chartier to blunt the NHS surge somewhat.

Neither team showed much offensive cohesion the fourth quarter, though the Miners did outscore the Emeralds 17-7.

“We had a lot of different people in the (offensive) mix, but we still need to sharpen our execution,” Sager said. “We need to be sharper offensively.”

Negaunee outrebounded Manistique 33-23 behind five boards apiece from Clara Johnson and Lynsee Dempsey. Lexi Russell snared eight for the Emeralds.

“Rebounding killed us,” Winkel said. “We gave up way too many offensive rebounds.”

Manistique won the JV contest, 34-27.

Craig Remsburg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 251.

His email address is cremsburg@miningjournal.net.