MANISTIQUE — A strong defensive effort wasn’t quite enough for the Manistique girls Thursday night as they dropped a 44-30 basketball decision to the Westwood Patriots.

The Emeralds trailed 21-13 at halftime and 37-24 after the third quarter of the Mid-Peninsula Conference match-up.

“We felt we were in the game,” said Emeralds’ coach Dave Winkel. “We knew Westwood would be a real good team. We played real good defense. I felt we did a pretty good job to hold them to 44. I think this was our best game of the year. I believe we’re heading in the right direction. If we play good defense, we can be in every game.”

Maddy Koski, who sank four 3-point shots in the third stanza, led the Patriots (4-1 overall, 3-0 M-PC) with 18 points. Kayla Muth scored eight for the Emeralds (1-3 overall, 0-1 league).

“We had a lot of makeable shots in the fourth quarter,” said WInkel. “We just couldn’t finish.”

The Emeralds held a 26-23 rebounding edge, hit 11-of-42 field goals and committed 19 turnovers. Westwood was 17-of-50 from the floor and had 13 miscues.

Patriots coach Kurt Corcoran told the Marquette Mining Journal “this Manistique team reminds me of our Westwood team when Madi and Tessa (Leece) were freshmen,” Corcoran said. “We couldn’t shake them once we built a lead of around 8 to 14 points.

“In the past, we’d go on something like a 20-0 run and just put the game away.”

Manistique, which also dropped the jayvee game 53-20, visits Gwinn Monday. The Patriots visit Gladstone Tuesday.

Westwood 11 10 16 7 — 44

Manistique 6 7 11 6 — 30

Westwood — Leece 6, J. Koski 7, M. Koski 18, Patron 7, Miller 6. FT: 4-5; F: 10; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: M. Koski 5, J. Koski.

Manistique — Twardokus 3, Peterson 6, K. Muth 8, J. Muth 6, Swanson 3, McDaniel 4. FT: 4-6; F: 9; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: Peterson 2, K. Muth 2.