Todd Rose | Daily Press Rapid River’s Shania Poore (32) shoots over Stephenson defenders Peyton Cole (30), Morgan Anderson (34) and Justine Havelka (22) Wednesday at Rapid River.

RAPID RIVER — A strong second half propelled the Stephenson Eagles girls basketball team (4-5) past the Rapid River Rockets (2-8) to earn a 44-37 Skyline Central Conference win Wednesday in Rapid River.

Eagles coach Missy Wangerin had one word to sum up the win, “Awesome!”

“We started out slow,” said Wangerin. “It really, really feels good.”

The Eagles started the second half down 21-17. They would put in the work in the third quarter to take the lead, outscoring the Rockets 16-10.

A quick six-point run — with two shots from Morgan Anderson and one from Paige Cappaert — tied the game at 32. With 20 seconds left in the quarter, Anderson was fouled and went to the line. She buried one of her free throws to put Stephenson ahead 33-32.

Wangerin said her seniors — Paige Cappaert, Anderson, Peyton Cole and Justine Havelka — performed well as they have been this season.

“Paige Cappaert ended up with 22 points, and Morgan Anderson had 18 rebounds,” she said. “Justine really made her free throws at the end when we need them. Peyton Cole, our force senior, was off tonight. Last game, she had three or for 3’s. But that’s what’s going to happen, and you have to hope your teammates pick up when you can’t do what you’re doing. That’s being a team.”

Wangerin added that she’s been having her team pick goals that can’t be point-related prior to games, something that has seemed to help the Eagles improve.

“They select a goal every game … their rebounds, assists, steals or whatever,” she said. “They’re putting all the pieces together, and they’re playing good ball. Everyone brings a different role, and I’m proud of every one of them.”

Rockets coach Scott Goodacre is taking away what he felt were positives in the loss.

“I thought we did a lot of good things tonight. We just came up short at the end,” Goodacre said. “I think some of it was with our ball movement, our spacing. We just have to keep building here toward districts.”

Goodacre was happy with several performances but singled out Shania Poore’s 19-point game as especially good. Poore opened the game with a trio of two-point shots. She totaled 11 in the first quarter alone.

“She was hot right off the bat,” he said. “She went cold a little bit in the third. But, somebody else has got to step up then, right?”

Natalie Belanger — a major player down low for the Rockets — was covered heavily by the Eagles, who limited her to 10 points.

“They did (a good job of shutting her down),” said Goodacre. “But, I think part of that was us not getting her the ball enough.”

The loss is a part of some ‘growing pains’, Goodacre believes, as the team continues to build into the latter part of the season.

The Eagles — who won the JV game 33-27 — play Carney-Nadeau in Carney as part of a boys-girls quadruple-header. The Rockets head to Munising Monday to play the Mustangs.

Stephenson 8 9 16 11 — 44

Rapid River 13 8 10 6 — 37

Stephenson — Paige Cappaert 22, Anderson 10, Havelka 9, Allie Cappaert 2, Cole 1; F: 8; FT: 13-20; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: Paige Cappaert 3.

Rapid River — Poore 19, Belanger 10, Pilon 4, Dausey 4; F: 12; FT: 2-3; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: Poore 3.