(first-place votes in parentheses)

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BOYS

Divisions 1-3 W-L Pts Pvs

Negaunee’s Jordan Guenette approaches the offensive end in the fourth quarter of a high school boys basketball game played against Gwinn at the Modeltowners’ gym in Gwinn on Friday. (Journal photo by Caden Sierra)

1. Marquette (6) 12-2 30 1

2. Iron Mountain 13-2 24 2

3. Kingsford 11-3 16 3

4. Westwood 12-5 10 4

5. Munising 13-2 8 5

Others receiving votes: Neguanee (12-4) 2

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Division 4 W-L Pts Pvs

1. Forest Park (6) 15-1 30 1

2. Pickford 13-1 22 2

3. Norway 12-4 16 5

4. North Dickinson 12-4 9 4

5. Dollar Bay 11-4 6 3

Others receiving votes: Ewen-Trout Creek (11-4) 5, Baraga (12-4) 2

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GIRLS

Divisions 1-3 W-L Pts Pvs

1. Negaunee (6) 15-0 30 1

2. Gladstone 12-1 24 2

3. Sault Ste. Marie 10-4 14 3

4. Houghton 11-3 13 5

5. Calumet 9-4 9 4

Others receiving votes: NONE

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Division 4 W-L Pts Pvs

1. St. Ignace (4) 13-1 28 1

2. Ewen-Trout Creek (1)

3. Munising (1) 13-0 17 3

4. Baraga 10-4 11 —

5. L’Anse 11-2 8 4

Others receiving votes: Lake Linden-Hubbell (11-4) 2

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MARQUETTE — The Baraga girls and Negaunee boys basketball teams are moving up in the world of Upper Peninsula high school basketball this week.

In last week’s U.P. Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association weekly polls, the Vikings received votes for the first time this season for Division 4 girls teams.

Now they’ve broken into the top five after posting a pair of close victories over U.P.-ranked teams last week and running their current win streak to four. Baraga (10-4) defeated last week’s No. 5 Lake Linden-Hubbell 49-46 and last week’s No. 4 L’Anse 52-49 in overtime.

Now the Vikings have replaced the Purple Hornets at No. 4, with L’Anse (11-2) slipping to No. 5 after its 11-game winning streak was snapped. LL-H (11-4) fell out of the top five, though the Lakers are still receiving votes.

In the Hornets’ streak, other than a 52-51 home win over Divisions 1-3 top-five Calumet on Dec. 20, every victory was by at least 17 points, including three by 45 points or more.

Each of Baraga’s losses has been to a current or formerly ranked U.P. team — LL-H, Houghton, Ewen-Trout Creek and an earlier game vs. L’Anse. And the Vikings also have a win over Calumet, 43-37 on Jan. 7.

In the same Division 4 poll, Munising remained undefeated at 13-0 but couldn’t budge either of the teams ahead of it and remained No. 3. The Mustangs did receive a first-place vote for the second straight week, however, but are still a bit of a distance behind No. 1 St. Ignace (13-1) and No. 2 E-TC (14-1).

Last week, Munising downed Norway 58-47 at home and Newberry 61-38 on the road.

The other mover in the polls was the Negaunee boys team in Divisions 1-3. The Miners had been fifth in the season’s first two polls in the early half of January, but by last week had slipped out of any mention.

Now Negaunee (12-4) is moving back toward the top five, receiving two votes this week to miss the top-five cutoff by three votes. Last week, the Miners won three times to extend their current victory streak to four, winning at West Iron County 69-36, at home vs. Hancock 96-20 and at Gwinn 63-40.

Among the teams they’re trying to catch are unanimous No. 1 Marquette (12-2), No. 4 Westwood (12-5) and No. 5 Munising (13-2).

The Sentinels continued their unabashed success in Divisions 1-3, winning their 10th and 11th games in a row after dispatching Westwood 77-56 and at Menominee 52-43.

MSHS’ only losses were in the season’s second week when it fell at Traverse City West and Traverse City Central by a combined total of seven points. West is 12-2 and Central 9-4 playing tough downstate Division 1 schedules that include the likes of Grand Haven, Rockford and Saginaw Heritage.

Westwood, which remained No. 4, had won eight in a row until running into a buzzsaw of back-to-back games against No. 2 Iron Mountain and No. 1 Marquette in less than a week’s time. The Patriots recovered enough from that to post an 86-27 home win over Manistique later on last week.

Munising remained at No. 5 in Divisions 1-3 while playing in the mostly Division 4 Skyline Central Conference as the Mustangs also have two wins over Ishpeming and one each against Gwinn and Manistique. Last week, Munising won at Bark River-Harris 78-43.

In the Divisions 1-3 girls ratings, Negaunee (15-0) continues undefeated and also unanimous at the top of that poll. The Miners did nothing to dissuade voters after posting a convincing 45-28 victory over No. 2 Gladstone, handing the Braves their first loss of the season.

And in the Division 4 boys rankings, Baraga remained just outside the top five, getting two votes as Dollar Bay is No. 5 with a half-dozen votes and the E-TC boys first out of the top five with five points.

Like their girls teams, the Vikings boys also defeated LL-H and L’Anse last week, putting up a big 53-29 win at the Lakes and a narrower 57-52 decision at the Purple Hornets to run their current win streak to four.

In games that include area teams with ranked teams facing each other, there’s a big one tonight with the Negaunee girls hosting Divisions 1-3 No. 5 Calumet at 7:15 p.m.

In an interesting cross-peninsula matchup this weekend, Marquette travels to Traverse City St. Francis to play in the third annual Northern Michigan Showcase. On Friday night, the Sentinels warm up against the host and Division 3 Gladiators, then at 5:15 p.m. Saturday, MSHS plays against Division 1 powerhouse Detroit Cass Tech (14-1).

In last week’s Associated Press state polls — this week’s should be released this evening — the Negaunee girls moved up a spot to No. 4 in Division 2, trailing only No. 1 Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard (12-1), No. 2 Tecumseh (10-1) and No. 3 Frankenmuth (11-2). The Miners closest trailer is No. 5 Grand Rapids West Catholic (12-1), with Gladstone the first out of the top 10 in 11th.

Among the Division 3 girls, Ishpeming was tied for 16th with six votes, and in Division 4, two area teams are among the four from the U.P. in the top 10. St. Ignace is No. 1, E-TC is at No. 4, Munising at No. 8 and L’Anse is at No. 10. In addition, LL-H is tied for 12th in the same ranking.

For the boys, Kingsford is 10th in Division 2 and Iron Mountain also 10th in Division 3. For Division 4, Forest Park is No. 1, Pickford is No. 10 and Dollar Bay is tied for 15th.

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