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Girls basketball: Trojans hold off Nordics, 60-52

Forest Park's Maddie Scarlassara (14) defends North Dickinson's Tori Christian on Tuesday in Felch. Trojans' Claudia Nocerini, left, and the Nordics' Skye Ledzian look on. (Burt Angeli/The Daily News)

FELCH — Forest Park allowed 18 points on 17 turnovers and missed 20 of 37 free throws Tuesday.

And still won the game.

Hannah Cross scored 19 points and Claudia Nocerini added 17 as the Lady Trojans turned back foul-prone North Dickinson 60-52.

“Tonight we were able to battle through it,” said Forest Park coach Jackie Giuliani.

Forest Park’s depth and defense led to the non-conference decision between Skyline Central teams. The Nordics (5-4) shot 30 percent from the floor (22-73) and made two of 14 three-pointers.

“Right now we have a team of 10 girls that can go out there and play hard,” Giuliani said. “So we’re just going to keep trying to rotate them in, stay fresh and keep that defense moving which was our goal tonight.”

Forest Park improved to 4-6 on the season.

Pickpocket guards JuliAnn Wickman and Briana Smith paced the Nordics with 16 and 15 points, respectively. They each had four of ND’s 12 steals.

“We didn’t do a whole lot of good things,” said ND head coach Kirk Mattson. “It was one of those games.”

Mattson pointed to the field goal shooting and 28 fouls that benched three girls. The Nordics made two of 13 first-quarter shots.

“The first quarter was tough,” said Mattson, indicating just one successful shot out of seven within eight feet of the basket. “We had good looks but weren’t close to making them.

“We got into early foul trouble and never got in a flow offensively the whole game. It’s hard to recover from three girls fouling out.”

Forest Park’s ball-handling woes along with early defensive lapses and North Dickinson’s errant shooting created a close game. A Maia Steinbrecher triple closed Forest Park’s lead to 18-16 midway through the second quarter. But a pair of Nocerini threes lifted the Trojans to a 28-22 halftime lead.

North Dickinson, looking for its first girls basketball win over Forest Park since February of 2010, trailed 49-39 after three quarters. The Nordics got as close as 59-52 in the final minute when Smith drained a three.

“We didn’t get scared when they started catching up,” said Giuliani, her Trojans protecting two and three-point leads three times in the second quarter. “I attribute that to our senior leaders making sure that we keep the ball moving.

“But the girls coming off the bench didn’t play afraid. They just played hard. We had good spurts from different people. That really helped us out.”

Cross chipped in six assists with her game-high 19 points.

“Great game for both Hannah and Claudia,” Giuliani said.

Taylor Honkala provided nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

“They hit them when they needed to,” Mattson said.

As for the turnovers, Giuliani felt a better job of attacking the gaps of the defense would have reduced that number.

“We weren’t making them commit to us before we got rid of the ball,” Giuliani said. “We were trying to pass when they were reading our eyes. Sometimes we don’t make the fake before the make.”

The Nordics will play a make-up game tonight at Mid Peninsula. The Trojans are off to Big Bay de Noc on Friday.

Forest Park defeated North Dickinson in the junior varsity game.

Forest Park 12 16 21 11 — 60

North Dickinson 5 17 17 13 — 52

FOREST PARK (60): Cross 19, Nocerini 17, Honkala 9, Loehr 5, Simmons 3, Aberly 2, Ferrara 2, Soderberg 2, Emmers 1. FT: 17-37. F: 9. 3PT: Cross 2, Nocerini 2, Honkala. FG: 19-45 (42 percent). Rebounds: 39 (Honkala 10, Cross 8, Loehr 6).

NORTH DICKINSON (52): Wickman 16, Smith 15, Steinbrecher 8, Ledzian 4, Christian 3, Anderson 3, Smith 3. FT: 6-9. F: 28. Fouled out: Wickman (2:55, 4th), Ledzian (4:57, 4th), Clark (0:18, 3rd). 3PT: Smith, Steinbrecher. FG shooting: 22-73 (30 percent). Rebounds: 35 (Christian 8).

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