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Forest Park trips up Norway 49-23

Matt McCarthy/Daily News Photo FOREST PARK’S MERCEDES Simmons drives to the basket at Norway Thursday evening.

NORWAY — Behind Mercedes Simmons’ 21 points, 13 rebounds and six blocked shots, Forest Park cruised past Norway 49-23, in Skyline Central Conference action Thursday night.

“We knew going in, that they knew the focus of our offense is Mercedes. We tried to spread the ball around a little and get some other people involved in the offense,” said FP head coach Kim Bjork. “Plus, when they’d double or triple team Mercedes, she did a good job to find an open teammate to pass the ball to, that was a good thing.”

Amya Johnson added 13 points for the Trojans.

Norway, who trailed 20-7 at halftime, simply couldn’t get their offense going on the night.

“We played our worst game tonight,” said Knights head coach Joe Tinti. “What made it worse, was it seemed the ball wouldn’t go in the basket.”

Simmons, being over six feet tall, is a presence in the middle of the paint on both ends of the court. Her height allows her to see the floor well to go along with her inside presence.

“We wanted to try to draw Mercedes out of the middle of the lane defensively, and she blocked our shots at will. In prior games, it always seemed it was one quarter or one half that did us in, tonight simply wasn’t our night.” said Tinti.

Bjork noted that she was pleased that her team had less turnovers, and out-shot Norway from the field and the free throw line.

Both teams are off for the holiday break, with Norway (0-6) returning to action Jan. 3 at Bark River-Harris. Forest Park (2-3) hosts Superior Central on Jan. 7.

In the JV game, Alexis Paris and Andi Carlson each scored 12 points for Norway in a 45-23 victory. Rayven Jacobson scored 12 points to lead the Trojans.

Forest Park 8 12 17 12 — 49

Norway 4 3 7 9 — 23

FOREST PARK: Johnson 13, Honkala 6, Simmons 21, Peterson 6, LaChappelle 3. FT: 5-6 F: 6. 3-point FG: Simmons, Johnson. FG Shooting: 21-47. Rebounds: 30 (Simmons 13) Fouled Out: none

NORWAY: Lindsley 2, Anderson 4, Stanchina 5, Clifford 7, Gyselinck 5. FT: 3-7. F: 6. 3-point FG: Clifford, Stanchina. FG Shooting: 9-50. Rebounds: 25 (Chellew, Gyselinck 6). Fouled Out: none

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