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Nordics hold off Flivvers in 52-46 win

(Dennis Mansfield/Daily News photo) North Dickinson senior guard Ashton Hord (23) drives through traffic in the first half of the Nordics’ 52-46 victory over Kingsford on Tuesday. Hord led all scorers with 18 points and added 11 assists.

KINGSFORD — The North Dickinson and Kingsford girls basketball teams cooked up an interesting season-opener Tuesday night at Kingsford High School, one complete with all the ingredients first games often have. There were flashes of individual and team potential, stretches of reckless play and a lot in between.

But when all was said and done, the Nordics and the Flivvers put on a good show with North Dickinson holding off a Kingsford rally to win 52-46.

Senior guard Ashton Hord scored 18 points and dished out 11 assists and junior forward Micah Lindholm added 14 points and 14 rebounds to lift North Dickinson to the victory.

“I was happy with our effort overall,” ND coach Kirk Mattson said. “I think for the first game of the year, especially going against Kingsford — they’re pretty physical and they’re athletic — we matched their athleticism tonight. Kingsford made a nice comeback but I think we probably left 16-20 points on the floor on missed layups.

“But the first game of the year, you can’t get too hard on them,” Mattson added. “We’ve got to make our layups but that will come.”

Both teams came out of the gate slowly, committing a combined seven turnovers in the opening four minutes, which ended with the score tied at three. The Nordics (1-0) overcame their first-game issues quicker than the Flivvers did, going on a 16-1 run bridging the first and second quarters. Hord and Chrislyn Inglese each buried a 3-pointer to spark the run.

Meanwhile, Kingsford (0-1) struggled against ND’s 3-2 zone.

“The first half we really dug ourselves into a hole,” Flivvers coach Jon Lorenzoni said. “We didn’t attack that zone very well at all and that got to us. You could see it in the looks of their eyes, that they really weren’t sure what they were doing as far as attacking that zone.”

That changed in the third quarter. Kingsford made a more concerted effort to get the ball into the post.

Senior forward Abby Terrian scored five of her 12 points in the period to go with 10 from senior point guard Talia Wallis as the Flivvers clawed their way back to tie the game at 35-all.

Kingsford also pushed the pace to match the end-to-end play of the Nordics.

“It was a race track out there,” Mattson said. “Both teams were flying.”

Wallis hit a triple and Zoie Geronimi sank a layup off her offensive rebound to knot the score at 42, but North Dickinson answered with five straight points. Lindholm scored five points to keep her team out front, while Hord sank a pair of free throws down the stretch to keep her team out front.

“Ashton is a great player,” Mattson said. “She’s our floor leader and when we need someone to handle the ball, she can do it.”

Lorenzoni said he was caught in a tough spot as his team forged its comeback.

“In the second half, I ran with the same five at the same time and I think that’s kind of a catch-22, where that’s the group that got you back in the game, but yet at the end, we wore down,” he added.

Jerry DeRoche can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 229, or via email at jderoche@ironmountaindailynews.com.

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