At least that was true for seven area teams — four girls and three boys — that are in the exact same positions from Week 1 to Week 2.

The only team that changed was the L’Anse girls team in Division 4. The Purple Hornets appeared in the unenviable “others receiving votes” category a week ago, but now have disappeared from the Week 2 voting.

That came despite L’Anse winning its only game last week, 70-41 at West Iron County.

Higher up in the rankings, the Negaunee girls and Westwood boys head the Divisions 1-3 list in their respective polls.

Westwood's Ethan Marta, center, dribbles through the lane and past all five Negaunee defenders for a layup during a high school boys basketball game played against Negaunee at the Patriots’ gym in Ishpeming on Friday. Marta set the school single-game record with 46 points. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

The Miners girls not only have a perfect 11-0 record, they’ve been a unanimous No. 1 in the U.P. over the first two weeks of voting. Gladstone (8-2) solidified its No. 2 position in the past week, getting every second-place vote this time around.

Negaunee won both its games last week, downing Gwinn 56-16 and Westwood 46-36.

The Westwood boys are also perfect at 12-0, but lead a closer race in their D 1-3 U.P. rankings. The Patriots did open up their lead a bit this week over No. 2 Menominee (10-1), as last week they received three first-place votes to two for the Maroons, but this week are getting four top ballots to only one for the Wisconsin border town.

Last week, Westwood won two games comfortably, downing Escanaba 71-32 and Negaunee 65-41. Against Negaunee, Patriots senior all-state player set the program single-game scoring record with 46 points, according to reports.

While Negaunee is the lone area squad seeing any vote support in the girls D 1-3 poll, Marquette is a solid No. 3 in the D 1-3 boys ratings.

In fact, the Sentinels (6-6) broke out of a third-place tie with Gladstone (8-4) from last week and are now third alone. Looking at the total votes, MSHS is just as close to second-place Menominee as it is to the now-fourth-place Braves.

Despite its modest .500 record, Marquette gets respect for having taken on five Lower Peninsula schools so far this season, with wins over Muskegon Reeths-Puffer and Harbor Beach.

In fact, after a postponed game on Jan. 13, the Sentinels played two games downstate last weekend and split them, a 49-48 win at Harbor Beach (8-2) and 64-44 loss at Detroit Cass Tech (8-3).

The only area boys team appearing in Division 4 rankings is L’Anse (8-3), which continues to be an “others” team after a 74-53 win at Chassell last week.

The really rich vein of area teams continues to be with the Division 4 girls, as even with L’Anse’s exit from the others list, there are still three Marquette and Alger County teams in the top five.

Ishpeming (7-1) received a first-place vote in Week 1, but now Ewen-Trout Creek (7-1) has become a unanimous No. 1 in those rankings.

Still, the Hematites are a consensus No. 2 team among all voters after winning its only game last week, 79-51 over West Iron County.

Baraga (9-1) was a close third the first time around but has settled into the consensus No. 3 position after taking its first loss last week, 40-21 at E-TC.

And Munising (9-1) held steady at No. 5 after beating Carney-Nadeau 71-30, Manistique 59-22 and Newberry 40-37 last week, all at home.

Here are the other U.P. ranked teams not previously mentioned — for the boys in Divisions 1-3, Kingsford (5-4) is fifth and Houghton (8-2) is on the others list, while the entire Division 4 boys rankings are led by Forest Park (9-2) by one vote over Dollar Bay (10-1), with Pickford (11-0) third, North Dickinson (9-1) fourth, and Bessemer (7-3) and Wakefield-Marensico (9-2) tied for fifth.

Other girls U.P. rankings are, in D 1-3, Sault Ste. Marie (7-1) in third, Menominee (9-3) fourth and Kingsford (6-2) fifth, with Houghton (8-3) receiving votes.

In girls Division 4, Norway (7-1) is fourth with Hancock (4-6) and Wakefield-Marenisco (8-2) earning votes.

In Associated Press statewide rankings for the girls this week, Negaunee is sixth in the rough-and-tumble Division 2 rankings, while Ishpeming is third, Baraga ninth and Munising one vote out of the top 10 in 11th in Division 4.

For the boys AP voting, Westwood is seventh in Division 3.

Other U.P. schools also appearing in the girls state polls are Ewen-Trout Creek No. 1 in Division 4 as the Panthers received four of the five first-place votes, while Norway is tied for 16th in that same poll.

For the AP boys, Menominee is second in Division 3, getting one first-place vote behind No. 1 Beal City (9-0). In Division 4, Pickford is No. 4 with one first-place vote, Forest Park and Dollar Bay are tied for No. 6, and North Dickinson is 12th.

Here are games in the next week involving either U.P. ranked teams from the area or area teams playing a U.P. ranked team:

Tonight, Munising boys at Rudyard;

Thursday, Westwood girls at Ishpeming, Ironwood girls at Baraga, Gladstone girls at Manistique, Westwood boys at Iron Mountain, Negaunee boys at Kingsford;

Friday, Rudyard girls at Munising, Iron Mountain girls at Negaunee, Marquette girls at Menominee, Ontonagon boys at L’Anse;

Monday, Houghton girls at Westwood, Ishpeming girls at Iron Mountain, Lake Linden-Hubbell girls at Baraga, Munising girls at Norway;

Tuesday, Gladstone girls at Negaunee, Marquette boys at Westwood, Houghton boys at Ishpeming, L’Anse boys at Wakefield-Marensico.

Story contents based on email received from the U.P. Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.