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UPSSA Basketball Polls

(first-place votes in parentheses)

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Negaunee’s Clare O'Donnell, left, drives to the basket while being blocked by Ishpeming defender Mya Hemmer during their high school girls basketball game played at Lakeview Memorial Gymnasium in Negaunee on Feb. 7. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

GIRLS

Divisions 1-3 W-L Pts Pvs

1. Negaunee (6) 21-0 30 1

2. Gladstone 20-2 23 2

3. Calumet 17-5 18 3

4. Sault Ste. Marie 15-5 11 4

5. Ishpeming 17-5 7 5

Others receiving votes: Westwood (13-9) 1

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Division 4 W-L Pts Pvs

1. Ewen-Trout Crk. (3) 21-1 27 2

(tie) St. Ignace (3) 21-1 27 1

3. Baraga 16-6 17 3

4. Lake Linden-Hubbell 16-6 7 —

5. L’Anse 17-5 5 4

Others receiving votes: Munising (18-4) 4, Hancock (14-8) 3

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MARQUETTE — Fans of Upper Peninsula high school basketball only get half as much to pore over this week when the U.P. Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association voted on top teams this week.

That’s because most — but not all — boys teams wrapped up their seasons last week with the MHSAA district tournaments.

The lucky few, including Marquette and Westwood from The Mining Journal coverage area, continue to play tonight with regional semifinals on tap.

So there was only voting for girls teams this week as those teams just wrapped up their regular seasons as late as Friday for a few of them.

There was a little bit of movement in this final poll, all of it coming in the Division 4 voting.

At the top, Ewen-Trout Creek moved into a first-place tie with St. Ignace as everything about them looks identical.

Both the Panthers and Saints are 21-1, each received three first-place votes in UPSSA voting and both earned 27 total voting points.

E-TC had been sitting behind St. Ignace just about the entire season before catching up.

It wasn’t anything St. Ignace did — the Saints are currently working on an 18-game winning streak — but E-TC has won 15 in a row itself, its most recent victory a 40-26 home win over Houghton, a team that earlier this winter was ranked in the U.P. top five in Divisions 1-3.

Baraga (16-6) held onto the third position in Division 4 despite losing its only game last week, a close 47-44 decision at Westwood, a team that has been in and out of the D 1-3 top-five all winter.

Before that game, the Vikings had a four-game winning streak and had won 10 of 11. And the loss in that streak came in overtime to Ishpeming, a current D 1-3 top-fiver.

Also in Division 4, L’Anse (17-5) and Munising (18-4) each slipped a spot, the Purple Hornets from fourth to fifth and the Mustangs from fifth to the “others receiving votes” purgatory.

Lake Linden-Hubbell (16-6) moved from the others list to No. 4.

L’Anse split its games at home last week, falling to LL-H 54-50 and defeating Ironwood 70-55.

Munising played three games in three days, all at home, winning two of them. On Feb. 24, the Mustangs lost to Gwinn 32-28, then defeated Stephenson 54-28 on Tuesday and took care of Manistique 65-30 on Wednesday.

In the more sedate Divisions 1-3 poll, all five teams held their spot, as did “others” member Westwood.

Negaunee (21-0) remained a unanimous No. 1 as the only undefeated boys or girls team in the U.P., downing Manistique 69-15 and winning a showdown with No. 2 Gladstone 58-44.

Ishpeming (17-5) stayed at No. 5 also with a pair of victories, taking out Bark River-Harris 73-29 and Houghton 61-49.

And Westwood (13-9) continued to receive a single vote with three wins in four days, all close victories of seven points or less.

The Patriots dispatched Jeffers 38-34 on Feb. 24, then Baraga 47-44 on Tuesday and Kingsford 42-35 on Thursday.

In Associated Press state polls released last week — this year’s polls aren’t released until Tuesday evenings this season — Negaunee held onto the No. 3 position in Division 2, trailing only unanimous No. 1 Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard (20-1) and No. 2 Tecumseh (19-1).

In Division 3, Calumet is 16th with seven votes, while Ishpeming is tied for 17th with six votes.

And in Division 4, St. Ignace is No. 1 with three of the five first-place votes as E-TC is fifth and getting one of the first-place votes.

Among the three teams between St. Ignace and E-TC is No. 3 Kingston (16-2), the team that lost to Ishpeming in the MHSAA Division 4 state championship game a year ago. The Cardinals received the other first-place vote, too.

Also in Division 4, Baraga is 12th with nine votes, 12 votes shy of the top 10, L’Anse is 13th with eight votes, Hancock 14th with seven votes and LL-H 15th with six votes.

In the boys AP state polls, the last ones of the season, Kingsford was 11th in Division 2, missing the top 10 by 11 votes.

In Division 3, Iron Mountain was sixth and Munising 12th with 14 votes, missing the top 10 by eight votes.

And in Division 4, Forest Park was second, receiving two of the six first-place votes, Pickford in a three-way tie for eighth and Norway in 11th.

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