IRON RIVER – Kingsford head coach Mike Cross had a unique perspective heading into his team’s contest with West Iron County on Monday night.

A few years ago, the Flivvers’ head coach worked for West Iron County Public Schools and coached middle school basketball. And several of those players are now on the Wykon varsity basketball team.

“I’ve coached practically every kid on the West Iron team, and I knew it was going to be a hard-fought game,” Cross said. “I knew they were real scrappy. and I knew this was probably going to be the kind of game it ended up being.”

The game ended up being a well-played, physical and exciting affair before the Division 1-3 No. 4 Flivvers pulled out a 50-45 nonconference victory over the Wykons at Charles Greenlund Gymnasium.

The decisive stretch of the game came in the second quarter when Kingsford outscored West Iron 13-4.

In the other three quarters, the Wykons outscored the Flivvers 41-37.

“Take out the second quarter, and in the first, third and fourth, I couldn’t ask anymore from the kids,” WIC coach Eric Shamion said. “I thought the defensive effort was good, I thought we shared the ball, I thought we were going to the hoop, we were being aggressive.

“A lot of good things tonight. We came up on the short end of the stick, but I’m proud of what the girls did tonight.”

The Flivvers (9-2) held a 12-10 lead after one quarter and pushed that to a 25-14 at the halftime break. Alyvia Kowalski led the way with nine of her game-high 17 points.

The Wykons (4-7) began their comeback in the third quarter. Led by Bristol Shamion’s five points, WIC closed its deficit to 34-28 heading down the stretch.

The Wykons continued to push, cutting the lead to three early in the fourth before Kowalski drilled a 3-pointer to stem that tide.

Later, West Iron pulled to within three again on the strength of Erianna Sucholl’s eight fourth-quarter points, but Kowalski sank another triple, standout point guard Aubrie Moore recorded two buckets and veteran post Olson sank a hoop and two free throws as the Flivvers held on.

“I thought Alyvia Kowalski was huge for us,” Cross said. “She hit shots, she got to the free throw line, I thought she did an outstanding job.”

Kingsford finished with three double-digit scorers. Joining Kowalski, Olson finished with 13 and made all five of her free throws and Moore wound up with 12 despite a right thumb injury.

That’s the type of scoring balance that Cross is aiming for.

“I think that scoring thing has to continue to be as spread out as we can make it,” he said. “We need to get everybody involved in our scoring. We don’t want to rely on Aubrie that much. And tonight was one of those examples where we didn’t.”

Meanwhile, the Wykons received another fine offensive performance from Bristol Shamion, who led her team with 14 points. Joining Sucholl as top secondary scorers were Lily De Sousa with six, Cami Alexa with six and Laurel Johnson with five.

“The kids were aggressive on offense, and that’s the key to (offensive) basketball,” Coach Shamion said. “You need confidence and you have to play with some aggression, and you have to attack your opponent. And we’re learning to do that.”

Shamion pointed to Sucholl’s impact on Monday’s game and her potential beyond.

“Eriana came off the bench and had a really nice night. She’s only a sophomore but she can jump out of the gym and that’s a characteristic that you usually don’t see out of girls. She’s also physically strong and tonight, you saw glimpses of it.

“We just need to work with her more in the offseason but the sky’s the limit for a kid of her ability.”

The Wykons are off until Thursday when they are slated to travel to Division 1-3 No. 5 Menominee (10-4).

The Flivvers hosted Division 4 No. 4 Norway (10-1) on Tuesday and came away with a 51-44 win.

KINGSFORD – Shaughnessy 1 2-2 4, Moore 6 0-2 12, Kowalski 5 4-4 17, Edwards 1 1-2 3, Olson 4 5-5 13, Normand 0 1-2 1. Totals: 17 13-17 50. 3-point field goals: 3 (Kowalski 3).

WEST IRON COUNTY – B. Shamion 5 4-5 14, De Sousa 2 1-2 6, Alexa 2 1-2 6, Sucholl 4 0-2 8, Smith 2 0-0 4, L. Shamion 0 2-2 2, Johnson 2 1-2 5. Totals: 17 9-15 45. 3-point field goals: 2 (De Sousa, Alexa.)