Todd Rose | Daily Press Carney-Nadeau’s Shae Linder (23) takes a shot in the middle of Munising defenders Monday at Westwood during an MHSAA Division 4 regional semifinal.

WESTWOOD — The ball just keeps rolling for the Carney-Nadeau Wolves girls’ basketball team (20-0) into the postseason after the defeat of the Munising Mustangs (8-8) 67-32 Monday night in an MHSAA regional 25 semifinal in Westwood.

“It feels really good,” said Wolves coach Ken Linder. “(It’s) one step further than we made it last year, so it feels pretty good.”

Taylor Kedsch kickstarted the Wolves’ momentum for the game in the first quarter going 4-4 on 3-point shots in the opening minutes of the game. Kedsch totaled 20 points for the game, including six threes.

Kedsch said she felt amazing about her — and the team’s — performance.

“I thought we came out strong and moved the ball very well,” said Kedsch. “We worked on that in practice yesterday with pushing it up the court. I think we did that very well tonight.”

Kedsch even surprised herself a bit with how well her shots were hitting.

“When I shot the first one I knew it was going in,” she said. “Then I kept shooting in, and it was like ‘wow!’ I’ve never shot like that before. So, that was crazy.

“But,” she added, “I’ve been shooting really well at practice the last couple weeks. I think that all translated to the game today.”

Coach Linder was happy with Kedsch’s performance, especially with how well things went according to his gameplan.

“I couldn’t have laid it out any better than that,” he said. “You could see that they were going to take Tessa (Wagner) away and (Taylor) took that gameplan right out the window for them.”

While the Mustangs did a good job shutting Tessa Wagner down in the first half — allowing only four points — she ended the game with a double-double. Shooting, Wagner put up 22 points to lead the Wolves. Rebounding, she had 11 defensive boards and eight offensive for a total of 19.

Qualifying for the regional final is a bonus for the Wolves, said coach Linder, after all of the unknowns with this basketball season.

“Before the season started, I thought there was a good chance there wouldn’t be a season,” he said. “But, I am so grateful we are here right now.”

Munising coach Matt Mattson, in spite of the loss, gave kudos to Carney’s performance.

“Carney looked like the number two team in the state, tonight,” he said. “They were very good. We tried to clog the middle up to take care of Tessa, and then they hit three-pointer after three-pointer after three-pointer … Carney’s a fantastic team, and I wish them luck.”

Mattson added that the Mustangs kept up the fight for most of the game.

“My girls battled through three quarters or so,” he said. “I thought down the stretch it got away from us just a bit.”

Like Linder, Mattson was happy his team had the opportunity to play this year.

“Just to have these girls experience high school sports is fantastic,” he said. “We went through some real-life lessons this year. Our starting center’s, Valerie Johnson, father passed away in February. My father passed away three days later. We ended up canceling two games. After that, we went 7-1 down the stretch and won a district when I would have never expected us to win a district.

“We learned some life lessons this year. This was really, actually, one of my most rewarding seasons, to be honest.”

Jenna Mattson led the Mustangs offensively with 20 points. Emmy Crisp also hit double digits with 10.

The Wolves move on to the regional final Wednesday against the 17-1 Ewen-Trout Creek at Gladstone.

Munising 9 5 9 9 — 32

Carney-Nadeau 17 14 19 17 — 67

Munising — Jenna Mattson 20, Crisp 10, Richardson 1, Anderson 1; F: 9; FT: 8-18; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: Jenna Mattson.

Carney-Nadeau — Wagner 22, Kedsch 20, Linder 9, Ernest 7, Grand 5, Maule 4; F: 14; FT: 6-12; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: Kedsch 6, Grand.

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