MUNISING — It was a difficult matchup for the Big Bay de Noc girls basketball team here in Alger County on Friday night as the Black Bears dropped a 62-23 decision at Munising in an MHSAA Division 4 district tournament championship game.

The victory sends the Mustangs (20-4) to the regional tournament at Kingsford, where they’ll face Norway (15-9) at 7 p.m. EST today. The Black Bears finished 20-4.

“We had a lot of fouls right away,” Big Bay coach Bob Pederson said. “They’re a well disciplined team. We couldn’t break their press, although we knew what we were up against.

“We still had a nice season. This doesn’t take anything away from what we accomplished this year.

“We’re losing four seniors, but have some good players coming back. We can learn from this.”

The Mustangs featured a potent 1-2 scoring punch, led by freshman Addie Bowerman’s 29 points. Senior Bailey Corcoran scored 20.

“I think that put Addie over the 500-point mark for her career,” Munising coach Matt Mattson said. “She plays hard. She’s a 4.0 (grade-point average) student and a great kid and athlete.”

The contest was tied 2-2 before the Mustangs responded with 16 unanswered points.

Big Bay junior Caraghan Thill’s five-foot jump shot made it 18-4 before Munising extended the lead to 29-4 on a gifter by Bowerman with 13.8 seconds left in the opening quarter.

“She (Bowerman) is a smart, aggressive player,” Pederson said. “She’s very strong down low.”

Bowerman sank her first 12 free throws and finished 15 of 18 from the line.

“This was my best game from the line,” she said. “I had been struggling with free throws during the season. Getting off to a good start is always a good thing.

“They definitely played hard. There were a lot of quick turnovers and loose balls. Our guards did a good job getting in their passing lanes and stealing the ball. I think we do a good job running the floor.”

The Mustangs, who led 46-10 at halftime, substituted freely in the second half.

Munising committed 12 turnovers and the Black Bears had 37.

“They came in here with a nice record and a confident team,” Mattson said. “We wanted to pressure them early. When we press, we can go eight deep. We had a little more depth than they had.”

Big Bay sophomore Payton Pederson started the fourth frame with a running 10-foot jumper and senior Lila Morris added a 21-foot jumper from the right wing.

The Black Bears, however, were unable to get any closer than 35 points throughout the remainder of the game.

Morris led Big Bay with eight points and Thill finished with six.