Negaunee, MI – February 21, 2020 – The Negaunee Miners Girls Varsity Basketball team defeated the Westwood Patriots 43-33 tonight on Sunny 101.9.
It was senior night tonight at Negaunee High School. The senior players on the Miners squad were recognized at the second to last regular season home game before the contest got underway.
The first few minutes of the first period went scoreless, but Westwood struck first with a couple of buckets at the line for a 2-0 lead.
A brief pause was taken in the period to honor Westwood’s Tessa Leece as she reached her 1000th point of her career. After a quick celebration, both teams got back down to business.
The Miners trailed 4-3 as the minutes ticked down. Lilly Nelson went one for one at the line with a little over a minute to go to tie it up at 4-4. Westwood inched out front with a score of 5-4 before the buzzer to take the lead into the second quarter.
Alyssa Hill hit a double to open up the second quarter and give the Miners their first lead of the night at 6-5. Larissa Anderson followed up with a triple to help along a 7-0 Miners scoring run in the early going.
The Patriots closed the gap to tie it up at 13-13 with 30 seconds to go. A Morgan Carlson double at the buzzer boosted the Miners to 15-13 as they took back the lead going into the half.
WHS quickly took the lead early in the third period. Alyssa Hill put up a triple to answer and reclaim a 17-16 Miners lead. Negaunee stayed out front at 25-21 with just a few minutes to go.
With just 30 seconds to go Westwood cut the Miners’ lead to one. The Miners carried a narrow 25-24 lead going into the final period of play.
The Miners opened up the fourth quarter with a double to extend their lead to three points.
A huge Alyssa Hill triple helped put the Miners go 33-24 over the Patriots as Negaunee began to run away with the lead. Hill followed up with another bucket to go 35-24 over the Patriots with less than four minutes to go.
Westwood wasn’t done yet as they began to close the gap, but Negaunee hung on to a 35-29 lead with two minutes to go. The Patriots chased the Miners all the way down to the buzzer, but Westwood was no match for Negaunee tonight. The Miners’ 43-33 victory makes Negaunee on of only two teams to deliver a defeat to the Patriots.
The Miners will be back in action against the Marquette Redettes on Tuesday, February 25 on Sunny 101.9. Tune in for the pregame show at 6:45pm, the game starts at 7:15pm.
Listen to a recording of the live broadcast.