Ishpeming's Jenna Maki, left, blocks a shot taken by Carney-Nadeau's Addie Laurin during their MHSAA Division 4 girls basketball regional tournament game played in Kingsford on Monday, March 11, 2024. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

By SEAN CHASE

Iron Mountain

Daily News

KINGSFORD — Through one half, the Ishpeming girls basketball team held a slim 24-19 advantage over Carney-Nadeau in their MHSAA Division 4 regional semifinal game played Monday night at Kingsford High School.

But the Hematites lead would only grow from there as they exploded in the third quarter, extending their lead to 21 points to roll past the Wolves for a 79-46 win.

“I thought Carney had a great game plan at the beginning,” Ishpeming head coach Ryan Reichel said. “They’ve got an excellent head coach and they’ve got hard-nosed kids. We were able to wear on them with our depth and that’s been a key for us all season long.

“(It was) almost a tale of two halves, but I was happy with the way we didn’t waver, even though Carney was having success against our press. We knew at some point it was going to work for us.”

Now, the 24-1 Hematites turn their attention to Wednesday’s regional championship matchup with Ewen-Trout Creek at 7 p.m. in the Barb Crill Gymnasium at Marquette Senior High School.

“They’re a very young team, but they’ve got two really amazing players, the Besonen girls (Emma and Bree),” Reichel said about the 20-5 Panthers. “We’ve got a lot to prepare for, but it will be exciting. It will be a great opportunity for us and hopefully we can hoist the trophy at the end of the night.”

Although the season is over for Carney-Nadeau (18-7) and head coach Jacob Polfus, the effort his players displayed on Monday was more than he could ask for.

“We gave our all for 32 minutes, can’t complain about the effort,” Polfus said. “We just didn’t have it tonight. Ishpeming comes in waves, we play five girls and they just wore us down after a while. Let’s be honest, they’re a great team.

“They’re tremendous. They’re big. They can shoot the ball. They press hard. They play good defense. We had to hang on for as long as we could and that was about to the middle of the third and we just ran out of gas.”

Carney-Nadeau senior Samantha Kedsch kicked off the scoring in the first quarter with a layup.

However, both teams struggled to convert shots into points and the score sat at 3-2 for the first four minutes. Then Ishpeming junior Peyton Kakkuri drilled a 3-pointer from the left corner and the teams were off and running.

Each team made another 3-pointer in the opening period, Grace Maule draining a 3-pointer for the Wolves and Payton Manninen connecting from the right corner for the No. 1 team in the state. As a result, the game went into the second quarter tied 10-10.

After trading baskets to start the second, Hematites sophomore Mya Hemmer buried a 3-pointer and the score was knotted up 17-17. That’s when Ishpeming began to make its move.

The Hematites outscored Carney-Nadeau 7-2 down the stretch to take a 24-19 lead into halftime.

“I told them at halftime, ‘If you had any doubt, walking into this game, that you can play with them, now you should believe,'” Polfus said. “It was a tie game with a minute and a half left (in the second quarter). We had so many opportunities to maybe go into the locker room with a different score.

“I felt when we came out of the locker room, we came out flat and they made a good adjustment. We just couldn’t handle the pressure.”

Ishpeming exited the locker room and started to ramp up its defensive pressure.

“You could see the Carney girls were getting tired,” Reichel said. “They were limited on timeouts, so we made sure to keep that gas on and hopefully go on a run. Thankfully, we had a mini-run there that kind of busted it open and that had Carney playing from behind.

“When you’re playing a team like ours, that plays that fast, playing from behind is tough and you’ve got to take quicker possessions.”

Maule and junior Mariska Laurila netted two quick baskets for Carney-Nadeau to start the third. However, after a Wolves’ timeout, Ishpeming senior Jenna Maki began to take over.

Maki recorded 12 points in the third and the Hematites’ lead ballooned to 21 points heading into the final quarter.

Maule poured in five points in the fourth, while Laurila added six to Carney-Nadeau’s total. But the Hematites’ offensive flow couldn’t be stopped as they scored 26 fourth-quarter points to lock up the win.

Maki led all scorers with 16 points.

Ishpeming also received contributions from Kakkuri (6 points), Addison Morton (13 points), Jenessa Eagle (9 points), Laynie Korpi (2 points), Kaitlyn VanDeuren (2 points), Manninen (7 points), Lilly Swanson (3 points), Hemmer (13 points) and Journey Comment (8 points).

“When you can win with a balanced scoring attack that makes you harder to scout and prepare for,” Reichel said. “If you stop one thing, we’ll get another thing going. That’s been the case all year long. I think we’ve had five or six different leading scorers this year and not many teams are able to say that.”

Maule led the Wolves with 15 points.

Carney-Nadeau also received contributions from Addie Laurin (1 point), Kedsch (2 points), Kelsie Smith (11 points), Laurila (14 points) and Kenna Thiry (2 points).

“Before the game I told them, ‘When you walk out of here, if you can tell yourself you played as hard as you can, that’s all you can ask for,'” Polfus said. “Win, lose or draw, the season is going to come to an end at one point and if you can tell yourself you played as hard as you can, that’s all I want from them.”