The Ewen-Trout Creek girls basketball team almost pulled it off.

They mounted an eight-point comeback in the last minutes of the fourth quarter against the Calumet Copper Kings only to fall two points short in a 49-47 loss.

The name of this first game of the season for the Copper Kings was fast break. It was secured defensively by a full-court press. In short, the Calumet girls ran their opponent down — all by design according to head coach Matt Laho.

“We have a lot of good ball handlers and the girls do a great job of getting the ball up the floor,” Laho said. “We want to keep the tempo up and attack the basket.”

The Copper Kings did an equally good job on trapping their E-TC’s guards at half court and slowing down their offense as well.

While the Panthers opened the game with a three-pointer from Paige Berglund, it would be their only lead of the night. The Copper Kings responded with eight unanswered points and commanded a 15-10 lead after the first period.

Calumet was tenacious in their drive to the basket and at the other end of the court equally strong on defense. They kept the Panthers on the outside and on average limited them to one shot. At the half the Copper Kings moved the score to 33-22 lead.

“At half time I told the girls we have to stop them and get a few buckets,” said E-TC’s head coach Jacky Besonen.

The second half was E-TCs better one. They outscored the Copper Kings 25-17.

However, they missed too many baskets which allowed Calumet to stay one step ahead of them to secure an opening-night win.

Besonen said she was pleased with her girls effort despite the loss.

“This was a great match up for us,” she said. “For the most part, we were two evenly matched teams. They are a tough physical team. I liked our girls mental toughness in the fact that they never gave up and fought till the end.”

Sophomore Mary Beth Halonen and junior Ellie Djerf led the charge for the Copper Kings with 15 points and 13, respectively. Laho said that’s the way it should be.

“Mary is a heck of a player she glides to the rim. When she is hitting she is dynamite,” he said. “Ellie is the heartbeat of this team never wants to come off the floor. If we need to create something on the offense she is going to be right there with it. If there is a loose ball, she is on it.”

For the Panthers, junior Elise Besonen and freshman Kate Borseth led the scoring with 13 points each.

“We have some things we need to work on, but it was a good way to open the season,” said Laho in regards to the win.

The Copper Kings visit Iron Mountain on Thursday.

Ewen-TC 10 12 11 14 — 47

Calumet 15 18 9 8 — 49

E-TC (47): Bergland 5, LeGault 12, Borseth 13, Besonen 13, Witt 4. 3-point FG: Borseth 2, Bergland 1. F: 14 (Schutz fouled out). FT: 6-11.

CALUMET (49): Loukus 8, Djerf 13, Sturos 3, Johnson 3, Halonen 15, Giachino 1, Strom 2, Torola 3. 3-point FG: Djerf 1, Sturos 1. F: 17.