Matt McCarthy/Daily News photo Kingsford's Ali Doolittle makes a move towards the basket against West Iron County's Jordan Shamion (21) as Emily Nelson (25) looks on Monday night in non-conference action.

KINGSFORD — A low scoring, defensive battle. That’s how the second game of the season between the West Iron County and Kingsford girls basketball teams played out Monday night, as the Wykons slipped past the Flivvers 42-38 in non-conference action.

Both Emily Nelson and Jordan Shamion scored 11 points for West Iron, while Brooke Kriegl scored a game-high 12 points for Kingsford.

It marked a stark contrast from the first meeting between these squads on Jan. 7 at the Charles Greenland gymnasium in Stambaugh when Kingsford edged the Wykons 44-42. Kriegl canned 24 points that night, including five triples, and Nelson netted 20 points.

For the Wykons, keeping Kriegl in check was a top priority.

Both teams came out in man to man defense and stuck with it throughout most of the game. To start the game, however, the Wykons’ two guards were trapping Kriegl. But to the Wykons’ dismay, Kriegl was breaking through the trap and getting looks at the basket or passing to open teammates.

Upon realizing the trap wasn’t working, WIC head coach Eric Shamion called timeout to regroup his team and make adjustments.

“Anna (Malmquist) said in the time out, ‘Coach, I got her. I’ll guard her myself’ so that’s why we stopped trapping Kriegl. I think Anna held her own against her.”

Coach Shamion noted that his team prepared for the different troubles Kriegl gives opponents and Malmquist holding her to only four points in the second half was a key to the victory.

The Wykons moved the ball up the court quickly, moving the ball around out of transition into half court sets in the early stages of the game. Once getting into their half court sets, they used an inside-outside approach, with Nelson moving very well without the ball to create better positioning in the post.

Kingsford head coach Lisa Harry noted that her team was so focused on containing Nelson, that at the beginning game her girls were reeling from the Wykons fast paced transition game.

“I was happy tonight with our defensive effort,” she said. “Shamion had a nice third quarter for them, but other than that, I am pleased with how things went defensively. Especially holding Nelson to 11 points.”

To begin the third quarter, the Flivvers went on a 11-2 run to take the lead 26-24.

“We had things going pretty well for us in the third quarter, and then we only scored four points in the fourth quarter. We can’t have things like that,” said Harry.

The Wykons strong defensive rebounding eliminated a lot of second-chance scoring opportunities for Kingsford.

Something Harry also noted upon looking back at the game was Olivia Olkkonen draining three 3-point shots at key moments during the third quarter point outburst for the Flivvers.

In frustration at the end of the third quarter, Coach Shamion yelled loud enough at his players to quiet nearly the entire gym. He felt they weren’t playing up to the level they were capable of on either end of the floor. He said the reason for that was simple.

“The girls and I have talked about fighting through adversity and playing strong defense,” he said. “In the third quarter, they were quitting on themselves in a way.

“I hope the girls got the message. They buckled down and fought back after Kingsford made their huge third quarter run. I was also happy with the way we shot free throws down the stretch. We’ve had trouble with that throughout the season.”

The Wykons scored 11 points in the final quarter, with nine of them being from the charity stripe.

West Iron (9-5) is off until Thursday, Feb. 13 when they travel to county rival Forest Park. The following night, West Iron hosts Calumet in a West PAC conference makeup game from Dec. 12.

Kingsford (4-8) has a quick turnaround, hosting Norway tonight in game two of a JV/varsity doubleheader, which will tip off shortly after the completion of the boys varsity contest against the Knights. An approximate tip-off time of 7 p.m. is expected.

In the JV game, Kingsford won 59-20 to remain undefeated at 12-0. Laura Bracket led all scorers with 14 points, while Gabby Schultz paced the Wykons with 10 points.

West Iron 13 9 9 11 — 42

Kingsford 9 6 19 4 — 38

WEST IRON COUNTY: Malmquist 5, Mazurek 7, Kolenda 2, Grubbs 2, Nelson 11, T. Bociek 4, Shamion 11. FT: 10-17. F: 14. 3-point FG: Mazurek. Fouled Out: None.

KINGSFORD: Olkkonen 9, Kriegl 12. Cook 1, Doolittle 2, Holmes 4, Glodowski 5, Strehlow 5. FT: 7-14. F: 16. 3-point FG: Olkkonen (3), Kriegl (2). Fouled Out: None.