“It was definitely a nice win,” said Florence coach Brad Perry, who has led the Ladycats since the 2018-19 season. “We’ve had this one circled on the calendar for a while.”

The anticipation for the game built up not just because of the long drought against Niagara, but also because the Lady Badgers edged the Ladycats 52-50 on Nov. 18.

The teams both have had successful regular seasons and are evenly matched. In Tuesday’s encounter, Florence (15-7) took a 17-6 lead in the early going and played from in front from start to finish.

The Lady Badgers (14-8) cut the deficit to five at halftime and then got within one with about five minutes left in the game.

Niagara’s Morgan Borchardt (13) fights to keep Florence’s Morgan Tomczak (23) from stripping away a hard-fought rebound during Tuesday night’s non-conference clash. Besides helping provide tough defense and rebounding, Borchardt paced the host Badgers with a team-high 12 points.

“We answered and then extended the lead to seven and made some free throws down the stretch,” Perry said.

Ladycat Isabella Millan sank 7 of 8 in the second half and finished with a game-high 28 points. Kamdan Johnson added 14 points for Florence, which hit 14 of 16 free throws (88 percent) in the game.

“We probably played our best game, overall,” Perry said. “Defensively, we were really locked in. We played a 2-1-2 half-court zone and it was very effective. We didn’t want to let them do what they wanted to do.”

Nevertheless, Niagara placed four players in double figures, led by Morgan Borchardt’s 12, followed by 11 each from Mallory Sanicki, Josie Rock and Abigail Wells.

Lady Trojans earn second win 34-30

RAPID RIVER — The Forest Park Lady Trojans ran out to an 11-point lead after the first quarter and fought off a Rapid River comeback to score their second win of the season, a 34-30 triumph Tuesday in a Skyline Central Conference varsity basketball contest in Rapid River.

“We jumped out to a 13-2 lead in the first quarter, then we went flat and turned the ball over too many times,” Forest Park coach Kim Bjork said. “Our girls battled to the end to get the win. It feels good to get one more in the win column.”

The Lady Trojans (2-14) opened the season with a victory over North Central on Nov. 30, but haven’t won since.

Gracie Peterson led the way offensively with 14 points and she also grabbed 10 rebounds. Rayven Jacobson and Lauren Kudwa added seven points each. Kudwa and Charlie Larson recorded five steals each for Forest Park.

Tired Mountaineers struggle at Ishpeming

ISHPEMING — The Iron Mountain Mountaineers fought fatigue, as well as an Ishpeming team bent on revenge, on Tuesday night in their 56-28 Mid-Peninsula Conference defeat at Ishpeming.

“Back-to-back games two weeks in a row was brutal,” Iron Mountain coach Karen Ellis said. “The first half of the game was a close defensive game and then Ishpeming came out in the third again with their press and we just slowed right down. Easy shots weren’t dropping and we kept turning the ball over and we couldn’t get back in synch.”

The Mountaineers (5-12) led by one after the opening quarter, but the Hematites took over from there, outscoring Iron Mountain 34-12 over the second and third quarters.

Chloe Maycroft paced the Mountaineers with 11 points. No other Iron Mountain player reached double figures.

Jenna Maki topped Ishpeming with 21 points, 16 of which came in the second half.

Jerry DeRoche can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 244, or at jderoche@ironmountaindailynews.com.