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IRON RIVER -- Flivver senior Paige Olsen sparked a 13-2 run with back-to-back 3-pointers midway through fourth quarter and Kingsford closed out West Iron County 61-51 in a nonconference girls basketball game Monday at Charles Greenlund Gymnasium in Iron River.
After the Wykons crawled back from a seven-point third-quarter deficit to take a 49-48 lead on sophomore Haiden Gill's 3-pointer, Olsen came right back with a pair of her own to give the Flivvers (3-3) the lead for good at 54-49.
Kingsford then pulled away on buckets from Abby Terrian and Erika Malone, two free throws from Olsen and one from Talia Wallis.
Prior to that, the game was hotly contested and close.
"It was back and forth all game," Kingsford coach Jon Lorenzoni said. "I thought we separated from them in the third (when we were) up by seven, but West Iron is scrappy and never let up.
"We shot the ball well," Lorenzoni added. "Made some huge shots at huge moments. We worked hard over Christmas and I thought that showed tonight. I'm so happy for the girls."
West Iron (1-4), which started three sophomores and plays with five in its rotation, led 15-14 after the first quarter.
Senior Riley Wiegand came out hot in her first start, scoring seven points in the opening eight minutes to pace the Wykons.
Kingsford took a 30-29 lead into intermission as junior Laura Bracket started to heat up with six points.
Bracket gave her team some breathing room early in the third quarter at 40-33 with a triple and two layups. Bracket led all scorers in the game with 18 points.
However, West Iron wasn't about to go gently into the frigid January night. Danica Shamion scored a pair of hoops and assisted on buckets by Carli Guzowski and Gill to keep the Wykons within two heading into the home stretch.
Bracket buried a 3-pointer to start the fourth quarter, but Gill answered with consecutive triples to put West Iron up by one before Olsen and her teammates took over.
Gill topped West Iron with 16 points and Shamion chipped in with 13.
Both teams committed 17 turnovers in the contest.
"It was a very physical game and I thought we responded to that and played hard-nosed basketball," Lorenzoni said.
Jerry DeRoche can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 247, or at jderoche@ironmountaindailynews.com