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Ishpeming girls look to reload

Ishpeming's Madison Pruett, center, puts up a short jumper as Gwinn's Megan Ruokolainen, left, and Mallory Delmont defend in the third quarter of their Class C district girls basketball tournament game played at Ishpeming High School on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

ISHPEMING — Last year was one to remember for the Ishpeming girls basketball team.

The Hematites won a district title and made it to the regional final along with some other accolades. They also had two girls make Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association teams as Madigan Johns made the All-U.P. Dream Team and Mariah Austin made the Class ABC First Team. Johns is now suiting up for Northern Michigan University this winter.

Looking back on it, Ishpeming head coach Ryan Reichel felt that the year was a success and heading into the postseason that winning the district was a goal that could be achieved.

“Anytime you set the school win record, you should be pretty proud of yourself,” he said. “We would’ve obviously loved to play longer than just the regional final, but as a team, we won a district, we broke some state records with free throws and such. We also were able to put three girls into the college basketball level, which is pretty remarkable for any school in the U.P.

“We had girls who had been on the varsity for a few years at that point. We knew Negaunee would be a strong favorite, especially when they had that girl from Arizona move in (Natalie Bartle), but we also knew that it was a goal that was attainable. So we would’ve been pretty sad if we didn’t put some hardware on the wall.”

The Hematites have a tough task living up to last year’s team, especially since all five starting players graduated, but Ishpeming is known for reloading each year and Reichel said he has some players would could step up this year.

“Madison Pruett was a junior last year who came in and played big minutes for us,” he said. “She had an opportunity to help us win a couple of games during the regular season with some big shots. We’re going to lean on her with her experience and she’s a very headstrong girl. She’s a big-time player when it comes to the clutch stuff and she can make some plays for us. Emma Poirier was up as a sophomore last year. She’s practiced this summer and worked really hard. We are also returning Sophie Hooper and each day she’s been impressing me quite a bit with her progression and her confidence on the court.

“I also have three sophomores on the varsity. Madisyn Mead, who is a very long, athletic girl and hasn’t even scratched the surface of her potential yet. She’s coming in and right now, she looks like she’s going to be a starter. Rebekah Loman, who is Katie’s sister, is a post player for us and she’s super strong. Jocelynn Nyman is a strong girl and she can play multiple positions, so we’re going to rely on her to be that Swiss Army knife and being able to go in and play three or four different positions each night as needed.”

This year’s roster may not be as talented as last year’s, but that doesn’t mean that Reichel is lowering is expectations as he thinks that this could be a solid season for his program.

“Our standard is going to win district and we want to keep playing,” he said.

“That’s our standard every year. Our dynamic is different. I can’t compare ourselves to last year’s team because that would be unfair to the girls we have. We will be better defensively this year than we were last year, but we won’t be as strong offensively and you shouldn’t be when you graduate your starting five.

“These girls want to have a good year, the coaching staff wants to have a good year and we’ll push and do whatever it takes to have a good year.”

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.

Ishpeming girls

2018-19 schedule

All times Eastern

Dec. 3 — Kingsford, 7:15 p.m.

Dec. 10 — at Westwood, 7:15 p.m.

Dec. 13 — Calumet, 7:15 p.m.

Dec. 20 — Negaunee, 7:15 p.m.

Jan. 4 — at Hancock, 7:15 p.m.

Jan. 8 — Gwinn, 7:15 p.m.

Jan. 10 — at Iron Mount., 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 14 — at West Iron C, 7:15 p.m.

Jan. 18 — Manistique, 7:15 p.m.

Jan. 21 — at Negaunee, 7:15 p.m.

Jan. 25 — Westwood, 7:15 p.m.

Jan. 28 — Iron Mountain, 7:15 p.m.

Jan. 30 — at Gwinn, 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 5 — at Gladstone, 7:15 p.m.

Feb. 7 — Gladstone, 7:15 p.m.

Feb. 11 — L’Anse, 7:15 p.m.

Feb. 14 — Escanaba, 7:15 p.m.

Feb. 19 — at Manistique, 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 21 — at Kingsford, 7:45 p.m.

Feb. 26 — at Houghton, 7:15 p.m.

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