Escanaba, MI – February 16, 2017 – Any spectator watching the first quarter got a sense these were two evenly matched teams. Escanaba got the action going on a Madelyn Theut basket, and the Hematites answered right back with a Marissa Maino 3 pointer. Each team then went on their own 4-0 runs and the Hematites took a 9-8 lead. The Eskymos scored the final 5 points of the quarter to lead 13-9 after the first quarter.
The second quarter was a tale of two parts for the Hematites. The first part was a bit of a nightmare. After the Hematites scored the first points of the wuarter on a Katie Loman basket, Escanaba went on a 7-0 run. The run put the Hematites down 9. The second part was a tale of triumph. After the Hematites went down 22-13, the Hematites scored the next 17 points, lead by Marissa Maino. Maino hit 3 threes during the run. Madelyn Theut finally stopped the run with a basket with just under a minute to go in the half. But Maino was not done. Just before the buzzer sounded she hit another 3, her 4th of the quarter, to give the Hematites a 33-24 lead heading into halftime.
The Eskymos were not going to go away quietly. Using a strong defensive effort, they would not let the Hematites get good looks. As a result, Escanaba was able to claw their way back into the game. After Ishpeming’s Chloe Sjoholm scored 5 of the first 7 points in the 3rd quarter, and Ishpeming went up by 12, Escanaba locked down. Escanaba outscored Ishpeming 10-1 to cut the score to 39-36. Ishpeming closed out the quarter well, scoring the final 4 points to lead 43-36 heading into the final quarter.
The Hematites were finally able to pull away in the last 8 minutes. The Hematites sank their free throws and knocked down some big 3’s. The Hematites outscored Escanaba 17-12 in the final quarter to take down the Eskymos, 60-48.
The Hematites win brings their record to 14-3 on the season. They will look to keep their winning ways going when they take on the Manistique Emeralds on Tuesday, February 21st. Mike and Bob will bring you all the action on 98.3 WRUP and WRUP.com.
LISTEN – FULL GAME – Ishpeming Hematites defeat Escanaba Eskymos 60-48