The Calumet girls basketball team is once again headed to the district championship game as they defeated the Iron Mountain Mountaineers 66-36 in semifinal action at home on Wednesday.

The District 65 championship game between Calumet and Hancock starts at 7 p.m. Friday in Hancock. Hancock defeated West Iron County 47-42 in the other semifinal.

“I thought we played a good game overall,” said Calumet’s head coach Matt Laho. “The girls pressured the ball well and put up some good defense.”

The game started off slow at both baskets. There was no score in the first two minutes until Calumet broke the ice with back-to-back baskets. However, opening three pointers by Iron Mountains Claire Mongrain and Ellison Powell put the Mountaineers up 6-4 for a brief moment. The two teams dribbled into a 10-10 tie after the first quarter.

That is as close as the game would stay as the Copper Kings caught on fire in the second quarter. They outscored the Mountaineers 24-9. Many of those points came off of turnovers that Calumet forced with their press and overall quickness. As well the Copper Kings had quick ball movement and were able to sneak the ball into the paint and off the glass for two numerous times. As the buzzer sounded to end the second, the Copper Kings led 34-19.

“Calumet is a really good team,” said Iron Mountain head coach Katelynn Grenier. “We expected them to press but we just could not break it. As well we could not keep up with their run-and-gun offense.”

Coming out of the locker room, the third quarter looked a lot like the second. Calumet out scored Iron Mountain 23-5. In short, they proved to be the stronger team on the court.

Marybeth Halonen led the scoring for the Copper Kings with 20 points. Alexis Strom followed with 14 points and Ellie Djerf had 13.

Coach Laho was pleased with the tenacity of Djerf on both ends of the court.

“While Ellie may have not had the most points, she was very good in feeding the assists. She kept the ball inside.

With the loss, the Mountaineers’ season comes to an end at 2-19. According to Grenier there is much more to her team this year than what their record reflects.

“We have been battling injuries all year,” she said. “But the girls have never given up. That is something I am really proud of. There were some close games in there that we could have won. We knew that this was going to be a rebuilding year. These girls have played with a lot of heart and that is special to me. That is all you can as for.”

Iron Mountain 10 9 5 12 — 36

Calumet 10 24 23 9 — 66

IRON MOUNTAIN: (36) Mongrain 5, Sardina 10, Powell 8, Kleiman 2, Maycroft 4, Sorensen 7. 3-point FG: 2 (Mongrain 1, Powell 1). F: 8. FT: 6-8.

CALUMET: (66) Loukus 5, Djerf 13, Anderson 2, Halonen 20, Giachino 2, Strom 14, Beiring 6, Torola 4. 3-point FG: 2 (Djerf 1, Halonen 1). F: 9. FT: 5-6.