By Journal Sports Staff

MARQUETTE — The Munising girls basketball team made its pressing defense pay off in the first half to cruise to a 67-41 victory at home against Rapid River on Friday night.

The Mustangs jumped out to a 26-10 lead after one quarter, extending it to 44-18 by halftime.

“We did press well in the first half,” MHS coach Matt Mattson said. “The girls were seeing the floor well and we had some nice assists.”

The 10-0 Mustangs had balanced offense as junior Marissa Ackerman led all scorers with 18 points. Senior Frankie Mattson, who had a team-high seven rebounds, and junior Kianee Wendt each pitched in 14 points while teammate senior Marissa Immel added 11.

Munising also won the JV game 45-40.

Superior Central 33, Gwinn 30

At Gwinn, the visiting Cougars employed a sagging zone defense and the Modeltowners were unable to get many of their outside shots to fall.

“They came at us with a 2-3 zone, and that’s the first time we seen a zone for a full game this season,” GHS coach Ben Olsen said. “We tried some pressure early on, and it was working, but we weren’t able to cash in any points from it.”

SC built a lead of 29-22 during the fourth quarter that Gwinn (0-11) nearly erased with back-to-back 3-pointers by junior Brenna Bruce. Trailing 32-30 after making a bucket with 7 seconds left, Gwinn subsequently got a rebound but was unable to get off a buzzer-beating shot.

Cougars junior Emma Rondau led all scorers with 12 points, while five other players each had six points — SC’s Taylor Silta and Sydney Emard, along with Gwinn’s Bruce, Brooke Mannor and Trisha McGuire.

Gwinn won the JV game 63-9.

Newberry 46, DeTour 36

At DeTour, the Indians were fighting the flu bug among some of their players, including all-state senior Taylor Bryant.

Her sister, freshman Makenna Bryant, took hold of the scoring reins, netting a game-high 18 points that included four 3-pointers.

“Makenna’s starting to shoot the way we expected from her,” her father and Newberry coach Fred Bryant said. “She’s also playing really good defense now and rebounds well for a smaller (5-foot-3) player.”

Nevertheless, Taylor Bryant still managed to achieve a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds to go with five assists.

Sophomore teammate Adrian Depew added 10 points.

The Indians also won the JV game 24-19.

Ewen-Trout Creek 55,

Republic-Michigamme 20

At Republic, the Hawks (1-11, 0-7 Copper Mountain Conference) were unable to get many shots to fall, making just five field goals.

That allowed the visiting Panthers to race to leads of 11-1 after one quarter and 29-5 at halftime.

Junior Shawna DuMoulin led Hawks’ scorers despite not making a shot from the field as she scored seven points on that many free throws.

Maddy Cronkright paced the Panthers with 15 points.

No JV game was played.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.