For starters, the Ishpeming girls have moved into the top spot in Division 4, while the Westwood boys were bumped out of their No. 1 position in Divisions 1-3.

Then the Marquette boys rose two spots into a tie for second in Divisions 1-3, while the L’Anse girls jumped from the “others receiving votes” list to No. 3 in Division 4.

In contrast, the Baraga girls slipped a spot to No. 4 and Munising girls fell out of the top five into the “others” list, all in Division 4.

One constant, though, is Negaunee remaining a unanimous No. 1 in the Divisions 1-3 girls rankings for all of this season.

Ishpeming's Jenessa Eagle, left, closely guards Iron Mountain’s Olivia Geneva soon after the Mountaineers player took an inbounds pass during their high school girls basketball game played at the Hematites gym on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

So let’s start there. The Miners remained perfect, now at 14-0, after their big showdown with still-No. 2 Gladstone by a somewhat surprising low score of 30-19 last week. Later in the week, Negaunee also took down Escanaba 64-19.

Actually, maybe the low score vs. the Braves wasn’t that much of a surprise, considering the Miners have held opponents under 20 points in five of their last seven games and six games in all so far this season.

The L’Anse boys remained steady in a tie for fifth place in Division 4 at 11-3 after posting three wins last week, beating Ewen-Trout Creek 81-57, Wakefield-Marenisco 63-48 and Baraga 67-53.

But all heck broke loose just about everywhere else in these rankings.

Starting with the Division 4 girls, Ishpeming broke the seal on E-TC’s unanimous lock atop that ranking after the Panthers (9-2) lost at L’Anse 57-45 last week. E-TC also took down Dollar Bay 51-10 and Watersmeet 82-16.

Ishpeming, meanwhile, improved to 11-1 with a 77-25 victory at Iron Mountain and 63-17 triumph at Gwinn.

The Hematites got three of the four first-place votes this week with the Panthers getting the other one.

That L’Anse win over E-TC helped the Purple Hornets bump up into the middle of the D-4 rankings at 10-2 as L’Anse also won last week at Watersmeet 74-29 and at Baraga 53-37.

Baraga (11-2) only slipped one position, though it’s a tie for fourth with Norway (11-2), after the Vikings also downed Lake Linden-Hubbell 66-25 last week.

And Munising (10-2) gave up its top-5 spot after losing at Norway 51-32 even while beating Brimley 56-39.

That was all just among Division 4 girls teams.

In Divisions 1-3 boys, Westwood (14-1) suffered its first loss of the season, a 59-35 home setback to Marquette, while adding a 72-35 victory at Manistique.

That was enough to lift Menominee (13-2) to a unanimous No. 1 in that poll after the Maroons dropped Escanaba 67-42 and won at home over Marquette 55-40.

And the Sentinels’ split during the week raised their record to 8-7 and into a tie with Westwood for No. 2.

Marquette leapfrogged Kingsford (10-4), which slipped from No. 3 to No. 4 even while beating Norway 74-37 and Escanaba 66-52. Gladstone (10-5) remained No. 5 with a win in its only game, 52-41 at home over Iron Mountain.

For Division 4 boys, L’Anse a week ago was tied for fifth with Bessemer and Wakefield-Marenisco, the latter two Gogebic County schools no longer receiving votes. Instead, the Hornets are now tied with Norway (10-7), which didn’t appear in last week’s poll. The Knights made an impression with a split last week, losing at Kingsford by 37 points but beating Stephenson 53-25.

The rest of the Division 4 boys include North Dickinson (13-1) repeating at No. 1 with three of four first-place votes, Forest Park (12-3) improving a spot to No. 2, and Pickford (15-0) getting the other first-place vote and bumping up a spot to be tied for No. 3.

Dollar Bay (13-1) actually dropped a spot to also be tied for No. 3 despite winning all three of its games last week, blowing out Baraga 62-32 and E-TC 64-31 while easing past Jeffers 51-50.

Filling out the rest of the Divisions 1-3 girls rankings, Gladstone (11-3) held onto No. 2 even after its loss at Negaunee by also beating Calumet 49-41.

Keeping their same positions were No. 3 Sault Ste. Marie (10-2), No. 4 Kingsford (10-2) and No. 5 Menominee (11-4). Houghton joined the ranks as an “others” team at 10-3 with wins over Westwood 72-32 and Escanaba 70-29.

In the state Associated Press polls that like the UPSSA’s come out on Tuesdays, the Ishpeming girls — not mistaken as “Ishpeming-Westwood” this week — moved up a spot to No. 3 in Division 4, getting 30 poll points and trailing only No. 1 Concord (13-1) with 45 points and No. 2 Morenci (11-1) with 37.

Each of those teams earned two of the five first-place votes; No. 7 E-TC got the other one.

Also for the D-4 girls, Baraga and L’Anse both missed the top 10 by a single point and are part of a three-way tie for 11th with six points each, while Munising is 16th with two votes and Newberry 17th with one vote.

In Division 2 girls, Negaunee held steady in sixth with 21 points, trailing No. 1 Grand Rapids South Christian (13-0), No. 2 Goodrich (15-0), No. 3 Grand Rapids West Catholic (11-2), No. 4 Flint Powers (14-1) and No. 5 Tecumseh (13-2).

In the AP boys rankings, Westwood actually popped up a half position from sixth to a tie for fifth with Pewamo-Westphalia, each having 22 poll points. Ahead of them are No. 1 Beal City (13-0), No. 2 Menominee, No. 3 McBain (13-1), and No. 4 Detroit Loyola (14-3).

As noted with the E-TC girls and Menominee boys, there are some other U.P. teams in the AP rankings.

Among the girls, Norway is 10th in Division 4, while for the boys, Pickford is No. 3, North Dickinson No. 4, Dollar Bay No. 5 and Forest Park No. 9 in Division 4.

Among the most anticipated games in the next week involving ranked teams will be two matchups on Friday night — Division 4 girls top-ranked Ishpeming hosts D 1-3 No. 1 Negaunee, while Divisions 1-3 boys No. 2 Westwood hosts No. 1 Menominee.

Here are all the games over the next week involving area teams that are ranked or area teams playing ranked teams:

Tonight — Ishpeming boys at Westwood, Menominee girls at Gwinn

Thursday — North Dickinson girls at Munising, L’Anse girls at Dollar Bay, Forest Park boys at Superior Central

Friday — North Dickinson boys at Marquette, Menominee boys at Westwood, L’Anse boys at Dollar Bay, Jeffers girls at Baraga, Negaunee girls at Ishpeming, Marquette girls at Kingsford

Monday — Baraga girls at Ishpeming

Tuesday — Lake Linden-Hubbell boys at L’Anse, Houghton boys at Marquette, Newberry boys at Pickford, Gwinn boys at Westwood, Gladstone boys at Negaunee, Negaunee girls at Gwinn, Marquette girls at Sault Ste. Marie, LL-H girls at L’Anse

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.