By Journal Sports Staff

MUNISING — Kianne Wendt registered game highs of 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead Munising to a 59-44 victory over Stephenson in a high school girls basketball game played Friday night.

The Mustangs (2-0) built a lead of 30 points in the second half before “letting up on the gas pedal” in the fourth quarter, according to MHS coach Matt Mattson.

“The first three quarters we played pretty well, our defense was solid,” he said. “For Kianne, that’s her second double-double in a row.”

Teammate Kelsea Ackerman added 13 points, while Daryn Johnson had 10.

“Kelsea Ackerman played well, and (Nykole) Fitzgibbon gave us some good minutes and played some good defense.”

Karlee Kuntze, who pulled down eight rebounds, Makayla Johnson and Autumn Rasner each scored 11 points for the Eagles, who held a 41-28 rebounding edge.

Munising jumped out to a 19-9 lead after one quarter, extending it to 34-15 by halftime and 53-26 heading into the final period.

The Mustangs also won the JV game 39-30.

Negaunee 76, Manistique 18

At Negaunee, senior guards Clara Johnson and Natalie Bartle each scored 12 points to lead the Miners, who made 33 of 73 from the field.

Negaunee head coach Brandon Sager emptied his bench as he concentrated on defense.

“We got everyone in and our mission was to make a statement on defense and have the defense produce on offense,” he said. “We had a lot of scoring on defense and points in transition.”

Sager added that despite the dominant win, there’s still a few things the team needs to work on.

“We found some stuff (in) this game that we still need to work on, but we’ll regroup and get ready for Escanaba on Tuesday.”

Kingsford 45, Westwood 40

At Westwood, the Patriots couldn’t finish the job in their first game of the season, according to coach Kurt Corcoran.

“Being the first game, we haven’t ironed out all the wrinkles yet,” he said.

Westwood built a 26-18 halftime lead, moving ahead by as many as 14 points in the third quarter.

Then the Flivvers whittled it to a 31-28 deficit entering the final quarter before making their final push.

“It was a tale of two halves,” Corcoran said. “We jumped on them early, our energy and intensity was up.

“At some point in the third quarter, they hit some big shots and our lead was gone and so was the momentum.”

Sophomore Madilyn Koski paced the Pats with 13 points as eight players scored.

Kingsford’s Brooke Kriegl led all scorers with 16 points, while teammate Olivia Allen added 10.

The Flivvers also won the JV game 47-22.

Gladstone 44, Gwinn 29

At Gwinn, the Modeltowners suffered from a frosty night shooting, though Gwinn head coach Ben Olsen pointed to another problem area.

“Ultimately, they made more shots and got a good number of second-chance opportunities by getting their offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter,” Olsen said.

The game was close for three quarters, with Gwinn leading 5-4 after one, the Braves up 11-10 at halftime and Gladstone still only leading 31-25 entering the final period.

But the Modeltowners made just 19 percent of their shots on 10-of-52 shooting. The Braves put up the same number of shots, but made 19.

The Gwinn coach was also happy considering they faced a seldom-seen sight — Gladstone’s 6-foot-3 Megan Crow in the middle.

“Our defense kept us in the game in the first half,” Olsen said. “It wasn’t flawless by any means, but they did a good job, especially with that tall girl in the middle. She alters a lot of shots.

“I felt (Gwinn 6-foot-tall player) Tierra Taylor and Crow neutralized each other.”

Marissa Delmont paced Modeltowners scorers with eight points, while Trisha McGuire added seven. Taylor scored five points and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds, while teammate Brooke Mannor had nine rebounds.

Gladstone’s Taylor Hunter led all scorers with 13 points, while teammate Kaitlyn Hardwick had 10. Hardwick and Crow share Braves’ rebounding honors with eight apiece as Gwinn held a 36-29 edge on the boards.

Chassell 64,

Republic-Michigamme 8

At Chassell, the Hawks ran into a buzzsaw after the highly regarded Panthers were upset by L’Anse on Tuesday.

“We caught them after that loss, plus they said they have Ewen-Trout Creek coming up,” R-M coach April Radcliffe said. “They tried some new things, and we just didn’t get off any shots.”

Chassell raced to a 22-2 lead after one quarter, extending it to 34-2 by halftime.

Allie Radcliffe paced the Hawks (0-2) with four points, while Milly Allen led 10 Chassell scorers with 21 points.

The Panthers also won the JV game 64-5.

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