UPSSA Basketball Polls

(first-place votes in parentheses)

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BOYS

Divisions 1-3 W-L Pts Pvs

1. Marquette (6) 9-2 30 1

2. Iron Mountain 9-2 20 4

3. Westwood 11-3 18 3

4. Kingsford 9-2 16 2

5. Munising 10-2 3 —

Others receiving votes: Ironwood (7-2) 2, Neguanee (8-3) 1

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Division 4 W-L Pts Pvs

1. Forest Park (6) 11-1 30 1

2. Pickford 10-1 18 3

3. Dollar Bay 9-3 16 2

(tie) Norway 10-3 16 T4

5. North Dickinson 9-3 8 T4

Others receiving votes: Stephenson (10-4) 2

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GIRLS

Divisions 1-3 W-L Pts Pvs

1. Negaunee (6) 13-0 30 1

2. Gladstone 10-0 24 2

3. Sault Ste. Marie 9-3 16 4

4. Calumet 6-3 9 —

5. Houghton 8-3 8 3

Others receiving votes: Ishpeming (6-3) 3

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Division 4 W-L Pts Pvs

1. St. Ignace (5) 11-1 29 1

2. Ewen-Trout Creek (1) 11-1 23 2

3. Munising 10-0 17 3

4. L’Anse 10-1 14 4

5. Lake Linden-Hubbell 9-2 7 5

Others receiving votes: None

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MARQUETTE — The Munising High School girls basketball team never seems to get the respect an undefeated squad usually gets.

Last year, the Mustangs had a superior record to some of the teams above them in the weekly high school basketball polls released by the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.

And the same thing is happening to them in these early polls for Division 4 girls this season.

Munising is the only undefeated team that isn’t either at the top of its rankings, or at least trailing only another undefeated squad.

The Mustangs improved to 10-0 last week with an easy 77-45 victory at Manistique and 58-35 win at home over Newberry, which received votes in last week’s D-4 girls poll.

But Munising is only No. 3 in Division 4, trailing No. 1 St. Ignace and No. 2 Ewen-Trout Creek, both teams that have impressive, but not perfect, 11-1 marks.

Of course, both those teams’ losses were to solid Division 2 teams. The Saints fell to Sault Ste. Marie, a one-point 50-49 loss on Dec. 13, and the Panthers’ one setback was against Negaunee, 47-30, on Dec. 27.

Speaking of Negaunee, the Miners’ girls are still undefeated at 13-0 and still a unanimous No. 1 atop Divisions 1-3. NHS dropped Gwinn 56-23 and Westwood 48-41 last week, the seven-point win in the latter game its closest of the season.

The only other undefeated team listed in the boys and girls U.P. polls is Gladstone, which despite being perfect at 10-0, can’t draw a first-place vote away from Negaunee, though it received every second-place choice on the UPSSA’s ballots.

Also among area teams, Ishpeming (6-3) slipped out of the top five, though it is still receiving votes in “others” purgatory, while L’Anse (10-1) remained fourth just behind Munising in Division 4.

Last week, the Hematites downed West Iron County 63-47 and Manistique 77-35, while the Purple Hornets took down WIC 68-32 and Wakefield-Marenisco 82-56.

The top boys teams from the area remained the same, while there was a bit of movement a little lower in the ranks.

Marquette (9-2) remained unanimous atop Divisions 1-3 after one big win last week, a one-point 66-65 victory at downstate Grand Blanc on Saturday.

The Bobcats at 6-6 aren’t as strong as they were a couple years ago when they reached the state championship game in 2021 and 2022, but considering they play in the Saginaw Valley Conference with the likes of traditional powers such as Flint Powers Catholic, Midland Dow and Mount Pleasant, they still have to be a quality team.

Westwood (11-3) also stayed in third with its seventh and eighth straight victories, 69-29 over Escanaba and 64-48 at Negaunee, where Ethan Marta registered his 1,000th varsity point on Friday night.

At the entry point of Divisions 1-3, however, was a change as Munising (10-2) replaced Negaunee (8-3). The Mustangs were previously receiving votes, as the Miners are now doing.

Munising downed Carney-Nadeau 76-38 and Rudyard 62-28 last week to bump its win streak to five, while Negaunee had built a seven-game victory string before suffering the loss to Westwood.

In Division 4, no area team is receiving votes as Forest Park (11-1) is a unanimous No. 1 choice, followed by Pickford (10-1), Dollar Bay (9-3), Norway (10-3) and North Dickinson (9-3).

In games matching up vote-receiving teams involving area squads, tonight the Negaunee boys play at Iron Mountain, while on Thursday, the Mountaineers come north to play at Westwood.

While this week’s Associated Press polls won’t be released until late this afternoon, a look at last week’s rankings show the Marquette boys received a vote and were 23rd in Division 1.

For Division 3 boys, Westwood received six votes and was 20th and Munising earned four votes and was tied for 21st with Iron Mountain.

In girls ratings, Negaunee received 52 votes and was fifth in Division 2 even with the Miners the only undefeated in that top 10.

Among Division 3 girls, Ishpeming earned six votes and was 23rd, while in Division 4, Munising got 43 votes and was seventh, while L’Anse had 19 votes and was 13th.

Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 552. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.