West Iron’s Lacey Shamion (23) drives past Iron Mountain’s Bella Pickett (10) early in the game on Tuesday at Mountaineer Gym. (Terry Raiche photo)

IRON MOUNTAIN — Both the West Iron County and the Iron Mountain girls basketball teams underwent significant offseason change heading into their opening-night contest Tuesday at Mountaineer Gym.

With the graduation departure of 2023-24 all-U.P. dream teamer Danica Shamion, the Wykons took to the floor without their leader of the past four years.

On the other side, the Mountaineers arrived with a new leader on the bench as former junior varsity coach Chad Lindeman has taken over the varsity head-coaching responsibility.

Additionally, both squads used freshmen point guards – West Iron started rookie Bristol Shamion and IM brought first-timer Olivia Geneva in for senior Gerilis Sampoll Torres when the latter fouled out late in the game.

With all the newness, the teams embarked on a somewhat frantic but compelling affair, eventually won by the Wykons 49-47.

WIC senior Kaitlyn Smith sank a driving layup, while classmate Sidney Storti and Shamion each sank a free throw down the stretch to help the Wykons hold off the Mountaineers.

“I kind of didn’t know what I was going to get with this team because we threw a freshman in at the point guard position and we have a few other variables that we didn’t know how they were going to work out in a game,” WIC coach Eric Shamion said. “It was everything we thought (it would be) and I thought at times my team played really well and made some good decisions.”

Lindeman also gave his team a positive mark.

“It was just a good game,” he said. “We played super hard from the beginning to the end. We were down by (11) at one point and the girls battled and battled. A couple of things go differently and we win that game.”

West Iron junior Lacey Shamion got things going for her team with a 3-pointer and a layup in the opening quarter.

However, IM senior forward Macy Linsenbigler made the biggest impact in the opening eight minutes and throughout much of the game.

The 5-foot-9 lefty tallied 10 of her team’s first 13 points to lift her team to a four-point edge after the first quarter.

Linsenbigler, who played through a knee injury that flared up later in the second quarter, was a thorn in WIC’s side the entire 32 minutes as she finished with a game-high 23 points.

“Macy is an incredible athlete,” Lindeman said. “It makes it even better that she’s lefthanded, so it makes it difficult for other teams to guard her. And she’s quick with the ball and she’s strong. She doesn’t look strong but man, she is strong as a bull when she gets in there and she has a motor that doesn’t quit.”

He didn’t have to convince the head coach on the other bench.

“She could play for me anytime,” Coach Shamion said.

The Wykons turned the table on the Mountaineers beginning early in the second period. Rowyn Fiszer split a pair of free throws, Lacey Shamion splashed another trey, Fiszer hit a short jumper and Storti sank a layup off an assist by Bristol Shamion to give WIC a 17-13.

The Mountaineers didn’t score their first points of the second quarter until the 3:37 mark when Linsenbigler buried a short jumper.

West Iron junior center Laurel Johnson recorded five straight points to lead her team to a 25-19 advantage at the break.

Johnson, and later senior forward Julia Swenski, each scored seven points on the night, while Smith delivered several assists, giving the Wykons a big offensive lift.

“The kids shared the ball and the kids that were open made the shots,” Coach Shamion said. “You get somebody like Julia Swenski who comes in and scores 7 big ones for us and you get Laurel Johnson to come in and score 7 for us, those were huge points tonight.”

West Iron opened the second half on a 7-2 run that led to a 32-21 lead. The Mountaineers stemmed the tide a bit with six points by Linsenbigler and a 3-pointer by Ava Marttila, but Swenski’s back-to-back buckets helped the Wykons maintain a 40-32 lead entering the fourth.

The Mountaineers’ full-court pressure brought them back in the contest in the fourth quarter as IM caused the Wykons to speed up and commit eight turnovers.

Iron Mountain eventually took the lead on a 3-pointer by Sampoll Torres with 4:44 remaining in the game, but the 5-3 senior followed out about a minute later.

With each team playing without a key veteran (Lacey Shamion had fouled out with 4:16 to play), it was a matter of which team could execute better for the final three minutes.

In the end, that team was West Iron, which got a driving hoop from Fiszer to break a 43-43 tie before Smith, Storti and Bristol Shamion combined for the final four points.

Iron Mountain had a chance to tie or win in its final possession, but West Iron caused a turnover which sealed the outcome.

“I was not so concerned with the loss today,” Lindeman said afterward. “The thing that I was so impressed with is we didn’t quit. We played super hard and aggressive. We had a lot of fouls, but we played super aggressive.”

Iron Mountain committed 16 turnovers in the game, while West Iron recorded 18.

“I’m glad we got the win,” Coach Shamion said. “Of course, we made a lot of mistakes, but at the end of it, the win is most important.”

Lacey Shamion paced WIC with 11 points and Storti added 10. Iron Mountain’s other double-digit scorer was Sampoll Torres, who wound up with 10.

West Iron is scheduled to travel to Calumet on Friday, while the Mountaineers are scheduled to host North Central tonight.

WEST IRON – L. Shamion 11, Storti 10, B. Shamion 5, Fiszer 7, Johnson 7, Swenski 7, Smith 2. FT: 11-26. 3-pointers: L. Shamion 2.

IRON MOUNTAIN – Linsenbigler 23, Sampoll Torres 10, Pickett 1, Wood 6, Marttila 3, Wicks 3, Geneva 1. FT: 13-21. 3-pointers: Sampoll Torres, Marttila.