The Munising Mustangs girls basketball team remains undefeated after a close and hard-faught game against the Gwinn Modeltowners on Tuesday, Jan. 3, with the Mustangs coming out on top 49-38.

“It was a hard-fought win,” Munising Head Coach Matt Mattson said. “We had the lead the whole night, but we just couldn’t pull away. Ended on our biggest leads of the day, but it was those five-, six-, seven-point leads all night.”

Munising shot out to an early lead after Gwinn scored just four points in the opening quarter. The Modeltowners were able to play the boards and keep pace with the Mustangs for the rest of the game, but Mattson said the team came out stronger in the second half.

“I thought the first half, we were maybe a little lackadaisical, but we played harder the second half and I was happy with it,” the coach said.

Leading the way for Munising was senior point guard Monique Brisson. She had 16 points, with half of them coming from the charity stripe in the second half. The Mustangs shot 15 percent better from the free throw line than their season average.

“Monique has to run the show and she’s done a great job with that all year, but tonight, we needed her scoring,” Mattson said. “Importantly 7 of 9 from the free throw line, so down the stretch when they were fouling her, she was hitting them and it sealed the deal.”

Emmy Crisp had 11 points and Bailey Corcoran added eight more. Gwinn’s Lena Pleaugh led all scorers with 17 points. Miaha Scheifel also got into double digits for the Modeltowners with 12.

Munising plays tonight against the Norway Knights. Both teams are 7-0 heading into the contest. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m. based on the conclusion of the JV game.