IRON RIVER – It became clear early in the Norway versus West Iron County girls basketball clash Thursday evening that neither team was going to budge much.

Therefore, the team which could put together a small run would come out on top.

Turns out that team was Norway when during a 90-second stretch in the third quarter senior Ashley Carlson buried back-to-back 3-pointers that broke open a tight game and led to the Knights’ 41-32 victory at Charles Greenlund Gymnasium.

With her team up 21-18, Carlson sank her first triple at the 5:20 mark to give her team a six-point advantage, the largest lead either team had up to that point

Then a minute later, the diminutive Carlson hit another from the left wing to push the Knights (16-4) to a 27-20 lead.

“We’ve been talking to her because she doesn’t shoot a lot, so teams are seeing that and they’re not guarding her,” Norway coach Brian Adams said. “So, she’s got to knock them down and she hit two tonight and they were big ones.”

Norway’s season-long leading scorer Lauren Adams hit her only 3-pointer of the night with 1:44 left in the period before Paytan Carlson sank two free throws and Jessa Rossler connected on a 3-pointer to give the Knights some breathing space at 35-23 heading into the fourth.

Throughout the 25-26 campaign, the Knights have been seeking some secondary scoring to add to the 24 points per game Lauren Adams gives them.

And they found it Thursday against West Iron (6-14) in the form of Rossler who scored 12 and Paytan Carlson who posted 10.

“It’s extremely important,” Coach Adams said of his team’s depth scoring. “The more people that score, the better we are. I’ve said it all year, Paytan Carlson and Jessa Rossler scoring in double figures along with Lauren who is usually in double figures makes us a higher scoring team, which gives you a better chance to win games.

“I want nothing more than for more people to score and we were spread out tonight.”

The Wykons (6-14) played a 2-3 zone against the Knights, bringing one guard high to cover Lauren Adams wherever she went on top. The tactic worked as West Iron held the 2024-25 all-U.P. Dream Team selection to just 11 points.

“I like the effort that the kids played with tonight,” WIC coach Eric Shamion said. “I thought we played the zone really well. If you told me that we would hold Lauren Adams to 11 points, I’d say, ‘Well we’re going to win.’ But they had a few other kids step up.”

The issue for the Wykons, which has been the case for nearly the whole year, has been on offense. Against Norway, West Iron barely crept above the 30-point mark while missing a variety of open perimeter shots and shots close to the rim.

No Wykon scored more than six points in the contest. Bristol Shamion, Lily De Sousa and Laurel Johnson all finished with six.

“We’ve been super inconsistent all season with hitting jumpers,” Coach Shamion said. “And tonight was no exception. I thought we had some good looks at times, open 3s and those are the ones we have to bury.”

The Wykons sank just two triples in the game, both by Bristol Shamion. On the other hand, the Knights connected on seven.

Afterward, both coaches reflected on the lessons learned Thursday night with just one week left before the district tournaments begin.

“I feel like we have to match teams aggressiveness,” said Coach Adams, whose team will close its regular season slate with a game at Stephenson on Tuesday, Feb. 24. “When you play these teams that are fast, that play hard, that are physical and they’re aggressive, that has been a problem for us all year because we’re more timid as a team.

“We have timid personalities and we can’t go anywhere when we’re timid. We’re not going to beat teams if we’re timid so the biggest lesion for tonight is we got more scrappy in the second half, we fought harder, I thought we matched them with their aggressiveness, so I was pleased with that. Now we just have to carry it on.”

Coach Shamion added his thoughts about his squad which plays at Hancock on Monday, Feb. 24 and home against Calumet two nights later before the playoffs begin.

“It takes effort, all four quarters of solid defense, but you also to take that aggression that you’re playing defense with and transition that into the offensive side of the ball.

“(And) we need Bristol to push the ball up more for us. Quicker. This walking the ball up and setting up against the zone, we have to take advantage of some fastbreak points, and we just don’t get any.”

NORWAY – Adams 2 6-8 11, A. Carlson 2 0-0 6, Paquette 0 2-2 2, Rossler 3 4-4 12, P. Carlson 3 2-2 10. Totals: 10 14-16 41. 3-point field goals: 7 (A. Carlson 2, Rossler 2, P. Carlson 2, Adams).

WEST IRON COUNTY – B. Shamion 2 0-0 6, De Sousa 3 0-0 6, Alexa 2 0-0 4, Sucholl 0 2-4 2, L. Shamion 1 2-2 4, Ericksoin 1 0-0 2, Johnson 3 0-2 6. Totals: 13 4-8 32. 3-poing field goals: 2 (B. Shamion).

North Dickinson 56

Carney-Nadeau 29

North Dickinson rolled past host Carney-Nadeau on Thursday to close its regular season with four wins in the last five games.

Khloe Roberts scored 10 of her game-high 14 points in the second quarter when the Nordics stretched their 14-11 lead after one quarter to 28-15 at halftime.

“Khloe Roberts was a spark for us when she came in late first quarter and it continued for the second quarter as well,” ND coach Kirk Mattson said. “She was all over the floor defensively and also scored 14 points during that stretch and that was huge.”

Alyson Steinbrecher recorded eight of her 12 points in the first quarter to get ND started. The Nordics (11-9 overall, 6-3 in Skyline Central Conference) continued to pull away from the Wolvers (7-12, 2-6) throughout the game.

After building a 13-point advantage at the break, the Nordics outscored C-N 12-6 in the third to head into the fourth in control at 40-21.

Then in the final period, ND outpointed the Wolves 16-8 to account for the final score.

Ava Oman joined Roberts and Steinbrecher in double figures with 10. Aunika Lindholm added nine for the Nordics.

“We had three players in double figures and one with nine, so we were very balanced again tonight,” Mattson said.

McKenna Thiry topped the Wolves with 11 points.

The Nordics connected on 17 of 25 (68%) free throws, while C-N only made one in five attempts.

ND awaits its MSHHA Division 4 District 99 matchup when the pairings are announced Sunday. No matter the opponent, Mattson said his team has built some momentum heading into postseason play.

“Good win to end the regular season tonight. We played with really good energy and hopefully that jumpstarts a run with districts looming.”

NORTH DICKINSON – Oman 3 2-2 10, Lindholm 4 0-0 9, Dennocenzo 1 0-0 2, Ledzian 1 3-6 5, Brown 0 0-2 0, Steinbrecher 3 6-8 12, Roberts 4 6-7 14, Anderson 2 0-0 4. Totals: 18 17-25 56. 3-point field goals: 3 (Oman 2, Lindholm).

CARNEY-NADEAU – Laurin 3 0-0 7, Thiry 5 1-4 11, Ernest 2 0-1 5, B. Corrigan 1 0-0 3, A. Corrigan 1 0-0 3. Totals: 12 1-5 29. 3-point field goals: 4 (Laurin, Ernest, B. Corrigan, A. Corrigan).