West Iron County’s Avery Bociek (23) and Livea Mazurek (13) battle Houghton’s Paige Deforge (33) for a loose ball on Friday, Dec. 20, 2019, in Houghton, Mich. (Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — If they were giving out grades for effort on the basketball court on the Friday before Christmas break, the girls from Houghton would get an A.

That’s according to their coach Julie Filpus.

Their top-of-the-class mark would come even despite a 50-33 loss to the West Iron County Wykons.

“We are making progress,” she said. “Our kids are battlers and that is good to see.”

There were a number of mismatches in the game in age and stature. The Wykons have two 6-foot-1 seniors who made a difference under the basket at both ends of the court.

Gremlin freshman Stella Wickstom was assigned to one of them, Emily Nelson.

“You could certainly see a difference between her and Nelson,” Filpus said. “Nelson just had the poise and the savvy under her belt, but to Stella’s credit, she hung in there and did just fine.”

Nelson had a double-double on the night with a team best of 15 points and 12 rebounds. Jordan Shamion followed with 11 points and 9 rebounds.

Neither team shot well from the floor. While the Wykons (5-0) poured in 15 points in the first quarter, they couldn’t keep it up.

“We clicked there on offense to open the game, and then we missed too many shots,” said Wykons head coach Eric Shamion. “However our defense made up for it. I thought our girls really stepped up in that area.

On the other end of the court, the Gremlins (1-4) missed shots under the basket, short jumpers and layups.

“That was by far our worst outing of the year in terms of shooting,” Filpus said.

Senior Maryellen Trewhella led the Gremlins with 14 points. Molly Bugni followed with seven.

Filpus added that despite a losing record, she has a team that plays with a lot of heart and is getting better every game. It makes a difference.

“A positive takeaway from tonight is the fact that we kept the final score in the 50s and I think our defense is stepping up a little bit and getting better,” she said.

Shamion not that he was pleased with the win and the fact that they enter the Christmas break at 5-0.

“It is a good place to be,” he said.

West Iron 15 13 13 9 – 50

Houghton 8 9 6 10 – 33

WEST IRON COUNTY (50): Malmquist 11, Mazurek 5, Shamion 11, Dahl, Bociek, Nelson 15, Grubbs 2. FT: 6-16. F: 11. 3-point FG: None.

HOUGHTON (33): Peterson 4, Ronis 2, Bugni 7, Trewhella 14 , Wickstrom 2, Svoke 4. FT: 8-10. F: 15. 3-point FG: Trewhella 1.