Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette Hancock’s Alice Larson brings the ball up against the Jets’ Montana Heinonen (12) and teammate Taylor Heinonen on Thursday at the Hancock High School gym.

HANCOCK — The Hancock Bulldogs senior girls went out in style on Thursday with a 38-23 win over the Jeffers Jets. In their last home game of the 2024-25 season, the Bulldogs’ faithful said goodbye to seven upperclassmen. They included: Emily L’Esperance, Sadie Biekkola, Sofie Freeman, Mallory Sporalski, Kay Pietila, Brooke Koskela, and Addison Pizzi.

Will they be missed? More than ever, according to their coach Ward Helakoski.

“They are such great kids,” he said. “Their talents and skills go far beyond the basketball court. They have great futures.”

In honor of their final home game, five seniors started, and it wasn’t the best mix. They couldn’t click.

Jeffers (8-13) took advantage of the mismatch and pushed out to a 9-2 lead after one.

When the original starting five came on the floor in the second, that changed the dynamic. It was Bulldogs basketball as expected. They outscored the Jets 17-6 and took a 19-15 lead into the locker room at half.

The second half was much the same with the Bulldogs hitting their shots and forcing turnovers. They outscored the Jets 19-8 for the 15-point win.

“Hancock brought some good pressure,” noted Jets coach Jordan Klemett. “That threw us off our game. We didn’t have the fire in our belly tonight.”

The Bulldogs hit six triples and had jut one girl in double figures – Alecia Aho with 10.

Montana Heinonen and Mia Nordstrom led the Jets with eight points.

The Bulldogs concluded their season on Friday with a make-up game against Calumet.

With a record of 14-7, Helakoski is very happy as the season comes to an end.

“To win that many games given the teams we play is super,” he said. “This has been a year. The seniors pulled, and the juniors grew and pushed us through.”

UP NEXT

MHSAA district playoffs begin next week for both the Bulldogs and Jets.

Hancock will open their district tournament with a game in Chassell on Monday

The Jets will also play Monday as they will host the Ironwood Red Devils.