West Iron County girls’ basketball coach Eric Shamion (center) and senior Danica Shamion (24) celebrate a 52-47 regional semifinal win over Harbor Springs on Monday at Escanaba High School. (“The Big Dog” Mitch Vosburg/Daily Press photo)

ESCANABA — Through the years, the West Iron County girls basketball teams have won their share of district championships. In just the last seven years, the Wykons have captured four.

But of the 10 times since 1998 that the Wykons had reached the regional semifinal prior to Monday night, they fell short of advancing to the championship game.

Well there would be no disappointment this year as the Wykons defeated 22-win Harbor Springs 52-47 in the Division 3 Regional 17 semifinal at Escanaba High School.

With the victory, West Iron (15-11) advances to face Elk Rapids (23-2) in the regional final tonight at Newberry High School.

“(The regional semi) is such a hard game to get to and to finally get over the hump and get a victory, I think it means a lot to our community for sure,” WIC coach Eric Shamion said.

“We have to credit the kids. It was a great team effort and I’m just so proud and so happy that we’re able to share this moment with our community.”

Though likely viewed as an underdog, the Wykons took control of the game early. Sidney Storti hit a putback and Lacey Shamion scored in transition to give West Iron a 4-0 lead in the opening minute of the game.

The Rams came back with seven straight, five of which came from two-time all-stater Olivia Flynn, but the Wykons punched back with a 6-0 run on three points from Storti, two from Haiden Gill and a free throw from Lacey Shamion.

Though the Rams pulled to within four in the third quarter and two in the fourth, the Wykons never trailed from the 5-minute mark of the first period.

“I’m glad that we played with the lead the whole night,” Coach Shamion said. “I think that was to our advantage. We didn’t have to expend as much energy as Harbor Springs did.”

The Wykons led 14-10 after one quarter and then locked down the Rams in the second, only surrendering three points on their way to a 24-13 advantage at the break.

West Iron used a 2-3 zone with a primary focus on Flynn to keep Harbor Springs in the freezer in the first half.

“I think the 2-3 zone really bothered Harbor Springs and I don’t think they could really get anything going offensively (in the half-court),” Coach Shamion said.

The Wykons built their lead to 28-15 early in the third quarter on two free throws by Danica Shamion and a layup by Lacey Shamion.

But after the Rams switched out of their 1-2-2 zone into a man defense, the Wykons lost their patience and started forcing quick shots. In turn, the misses got Flynn out in transition and the Harbor Springs junior started knocking down one pull-up jumper after another.

The Rams all-time leading scorer, with more than 1,600 points in her career, rang up 18 points in the third quarter alone to pull her team back into the game and to put West Iron under some intense tournament heat.

With her team’s lead down to 36-31 in the final minute of the third, West Iron junior Kaitlyn Smith sank her only 3-pointer of the game to restore the advantage to eight.

With leading scorer Danica Shamion struggling to find her offensive game, the Wykons were sorely in need of scoring help and they got it from Storti (12 points), Lacey Shamion (12 points), Gill (8 points) and Smith (5 points).

“Down the stretch, we got key contributions from Lacey Shamion, Sidney Storti, Kaitlyn Smith hit a big 3 in the third quarter and Haiden Gill really helped us out a ton,” Coach Shamion said.

The Rams stayed in the hunt in the fourth quarter behind eight more points from Flynn, but the Wykons kept their nose out front. And when they needed her to step forward, Danica Shamion did, hitting three driving buckets and two free throws in the final period.

Shamion topped WIC with 13 points, while Flynn led everyone with 33.

No other Harbor Springs player scored more than four.

Coach Shamion said his team has learned to dig deep at just the right time.

“They’re finding something within themselves that I don’t think they realized they had,” he said. “And as a coach, you’re always trying to drag that out even though you don’t know what it is exactly.

“I think they’re finding out that when they reach deep within that good things happen.”

Now, the Wykons shoot for the regional championship against Elk Rapids, who defeated Roscommon 57-19 in the other semifinal.

The Elks tied for first with Harbor Springs in the Lake Michigan Conference.

For West Iron, it’s another step along a magical and memorable path.

“This is a special time for West Iron,” said Shamion, who played for West Iron’s Class C boys state-runner up team in 1991. “We’re excited to play in a regional final and we’re fortunate that it’s being played in the U.P.

“We’re hoping that we can bring some U.P. power to the Newberry gym on Wednesday night.”