Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By JASON JUNO
Wakefield — Wakefield-Marenisco won’t need their bus anymore come February. The Cardinals end the season with seven straight home games followed by the district tournament in their gym.
All of those late home games don’t come without a lot of travel early on. After six straight on the road, the Cardinals played their home opener, Friday night, Jan. 3, before going on the road for another three-game stretch.
Lake Linden-Hubbell spoiled their first home game with a 68-53 victory.
The Lakes are ranked third in the first Upper Peninsula poll of the season. The Cardinals, though, traded blows with them early on. Emma Choronzy made two 3s in the second quarter, the second putting W-M back in front 21-19. That was their last lead of the game, though, as the Lakes finished the half on a 10-2 run for a 29-23 halftime advantage.
The Cardinals didn’t go away. Kenly Anderson hit back-to-back 3s on her way to an 18-point night, and that brought the Lakes’ lead back down to single digits at 37-29. Emily Delfavero, who finished with 16 points, made a 3 to make it 40-34.
The Lakes got it back to double digits before the third ended. Cleo Milkey did that with a pair of free throws. Besides putting LL-H ahead 48-38, she scored her 1,000th career point at the stripe.
Milkey and Emily Jokela both finished the game with 24 points. They’re the 1-2 scoring punch that has easily made them a top-five team in the U.P.
“Cleo with a thousand points, that was awesome, she’s so awesome,” LL-H coach Jack Kumpula said. “I’m so happy for her. She works hard. She might be a better pure shooter than Emily. Emily is just go, she’s got an everready battery, you can’t stop her.”
The Lakes pulled away in the fourth with Milkey and Jokela scoring 16 of their 18 points. They got some offensive help earlier from Payton Goldsworthy, who scored 14 points. Her 11 first-half points were a team high.
“The two of them are great offensive players, great defensive players and then they have the really good role players and (Goldsworthy) has improved a lot in the last month,” W-M coach Alex Metas said.
The Cardinals lost to LL-H last month as well. That was, as he pointed out, shortly after W-M’s top defender Carine Cole hurt her ankle, and this was one was as she’s recovering from an illness. He was still happy with how she played guarding Jokela, an AP All-State selection last year.
Anderson and Delfavero stepped up offensively.
“Kenly’s an undersized big for us, she does have that good power forward body that she can use. I’m so happy she’s getting better and better,” Metas said. “Lake Linden’s bigger than her. She fought for and got position on them and I’m very happy with how she played.
“Emily plays her solid game. She’s a good point guard for us when she’s running the point. She’s an excellent shooter. She creates off the dribble and plays really good defense.”
W-M fell to 3-4 with its tough early-season schedule. LL-H fell to 7-1 with a loss to Houghton Tuesday night.
The Lakes get ready for another tough team, No. 2 Ewen-Trout Creek, Thursday night. The Lakes won the regular-season matchup while the Panthers got them in the regional last season.
“We beat them last year in the first game because we trapped the heck out of them,” Kumpula said. “In the regional we held both Besonens to 11 points — you think you’re going to win that game and we didn’t. They’ve got the big three (with Irelynd McGeshick) and we’ve got to figure it out.
“It’s in our gym, so that helps. It’s a little smaller floor, we can do some of the things we like to do. We’re looking forward to that game.”
LL-H — Addeline Schmitt 2, Payton Goldsworthy 14, Cleo Milkey 24, Emily Jokela 24, Maddy Dudenas 4. FTs: 6-7. Fouls: 5. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Milkey 3, Jokela 2, Goldsworthy 1.
W-M — Emily Delfavero 16, Noelle Grace 8, Carine Cole 5, Kenly Anderson 18, Emma Choronzy 6. FTs: 4-4. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: Delfavero 2, Anderson 2, Cole 1, Choronzy 1.
LL-H 8 29 50 68
W-M 11 23 38 53