Houghton’s Eva Gerard and Meghan Trewhella (25) battle for a rebound with Baraga’s Corrie Jahfeston (22) during a game Friday at the Houghton Gym. (Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — The Houghton girls’ basketball team continued their winning ways into the first week of the New Year with a 66-52 victory over the Baraga Vikings on Friday.

A 16-point win over Baraga is not an easy task as the Vikings were a final-four team last year in the state of Michigan and they were perfect on the season until Friday’s loss. Now they are 7-1, as is Houghton.

“Hats off to Houghton. They are a well-coached team that deserved that win,” said coach Tyler Larson of the Vikings.

Baraga senior shooter Corrie Jahfetson had the hot hand on the night for the Vikings. She led her team in scoring with 27 points – 24 of which came beyond the three-point line. She poured in her first three triples in the opening quarter, giving the Vikings a 15-11 lead.

“Corrie has a hot hand. She is a shooter, and so we want to let her do that,” said Larson.

However, Jahfeston can’t carry a whole team or single-handedly win a game.

Gremlins’ coach Julie Filpus adjusted accordingly in the second and put senior Stella Wickstrom on Jahfeston to slow her down, and it worked. She scored just three points in the second and the Gremlins outscored the Vikings 21-12 for a 32-27 advantage at half.

“I told the girls in the locker room to just stick to the game plan,” said Filpus. “This included working the ball around and staying consistent defensively.”

Houghton outscored their opponent 21-6 in the third. Baraga had dug too deep of a hole with too many mistakes while the Gremlins poured it on hitting jumpers and quick plays inside.

“I liked how we had a variety of players hit shots and come up big,” said Filpus. “We were balanced in many ways and never got rattled.”

The Vikings’ best eight minutes was the fourth quarter. Jahfetston sunk three more three three-pointers and the team added another 10 points for 19. However, it wasn’t enough to catch up with the Gremlins and their dominating 10-point lead.

Annika Peterson led the scoring for the Gremlins with 16 points. Wickstrom followed with 11. Meghan Trewhella had nine as did Eva Gerard.

“This was a well-played and fluid game,” said Filpus. “It was really a team win and very good to see.”

Up next

The Gremlins will start the week at home with a Tuesday matchup against the Lake Linden-Hubbell Lakes.