By BURT ANGELI

Sports Writer

IRON MOUNTAIN — Gwinn closed out the first half with eight straight points and downed Iron Mountain 59-40 in Mid-Peninsula Conference girls basketball Friday.

Deadlocked at 13 with six minutes left in the second quarter, Gwinn held a 17-15 advantage after IM’s Jorden Stoner recorded her second straight putback.

The Modeltowners (1-1) claimed a 25-15 halftime lead, with Marissa Delmont scoring six points in the closing stretch.

“I thought we really played well with a total team effort,” said Gwinn Coach Ben Olsen. “First quarter we did a real bad job of rebounding. We took some quick shots.

“We settled in, obviously, after that and played really, really well.”

The Mountaineers (0-2), missing All-Mid-Peninsula Conference first-teamer Riley Poupore (ankle), managed a 9-8 lead late in the first quarter.

Brooke Mannor led the Modeltowners with 20 points and Marissa Delmont added 15. Trisha McGuire, one of Gwinn’s three co-captains and a four-year varsity player, made her season debut after an ACL tear in July.

Gwinn connected on seven triples, showing the form demonstrated by Olsen during his long-range shooting days with the Mountaineers.

“We work a lot on it (outside shooting),” Olsen said. “We’re in that new age where we’re either shooting lay-ups or shooting threes. We’ve totally taken out the mid-range shot.”

Iron Mountain trailed 41-28 after three quarters and Gwinn started the fourth with seven straight points.