Kingsford's Jordyn Kriegl, center, shoots while being defended by Iron Mountain's Hanna Ellis, left, and Saylor Swartout, right, on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018, in Kingsford, Mich. (Adam Niemi/Iron Mountain Daily News)

KINGSFORD — Friday night was bigger than a basketball game, but it also might have been a game the Kingsford and Iron Mountain communities needed.

Less than a week after the death of two Kingsford High School students, the KHS gymnasium was packed for the rivalry game against Iron Mountain.

The Flivvers set the tone with an early 11-0 lead en route to a 72-56 win over the Mountaineers.

Kingsford head coach Mike Cross said the locker room was emotional before warmups. The team went into the stands to give 18 roses to Jolene Treml’s parents, Jeffrey and Mary. People in attendance gave a standing ovation. Jolene, 17, and Taylor Bosley, 18, were killed in a car accident last Saturday on M-95 in Sagola Township.

Iron Mountain, Kingsford’s longtime rival, wore Flivver Strong shirts during warmups. Mountaineers head coach Katelynn Johnson wore the shirt throughout the night.

The emotions in the crowd also permeated in the student sections during the game. With Kingsford-Iron Mountain games drawing almost non-stop chants and cheers, Friday was notably quiet. The only cheer came from Kingsford’s student section in the first half: Flivver Nation.

Cross said there was no talk about the game before tipoff.

“At Jolene Treml’s funeral, they talked about letting her light shine for others. That’s what Jolene did. She was a beacon of light for everybody around here,” Cross said. “We talked about tonight being a moment to let your light shine. We talked almost nothing about a gameplan. It was just go out and play and let your light shine. We reiterated that at the end. They heard that message at Jolene’s funeral and I thought they took it and owned it.”

Cross, who coached Treml in basketball from third grade to eighth, said he appreciated Iron Mountain’s gesture.

“Just an emotional night for us. Emotional night for our community. To come out here and play a basketball game is tough. I’m proud of both teams really,” Cross said. “It was a pretty solid game. I’m impressed with our girls and the Mountaineer girls. I can’t tell you how respectful I thought they were for us and what they did as far as their Flivver Strong shirts. Our community is incredible.”

Brooke Kriegl and her sister Jordyn shared a team-high 17 points for Kingsford. Olivia Allen had 16 points.

Riley Poupore scored a game-high 22 points for Iron Mountain and Hanna Ellis added 12.

“What a tough situation to be in. Coming to Kingsford in general is very hard, it’s hard to win here,” Iron Mountain head coach Katelynn Johnson said. “With the tragedy that’s going on in town, that also added another level of difficulty for Kingsford as well as my team. Emotionally it was hard. A couple of (IM players) did know them pretty well. Of course we tried to support them any way we could. We got some t-shirts, that doesn’t mean too much.

“Kingsford’s a tough team. All the way around, they’re solid. The Kriegl sisters — very good. Renee Roberts — stellar. Olivia Allen — wonderful. I thought in the first half we were a little sluggish. If we would’ve played our first half like our second half, we would’ve been able to put together two better halves, I think it would’ve been a little bit closer at the end.”

Cross said watching his team bring the roses into the stands was the best moment of his 24-year coaching career.

“I’ll tell you the goosebumps I had,” Cross said, interrupted by a hug from his daughter Sam. “There are moments in a coach’s career — I’ve been coaching probably 24 years and I’ve had some really cool basketball moments. Tonight before our warmups, our team went up into the stands and gave the Tremls 18 roses for her birthday to a standing ovation. That was the greatest moment in my basketball coaching career. Liz Lorenzoni, Grace’s mom, is the one who came up with that incredible idea. Just an incredible, compassionate moment. That really was the best moment I’ve ever had as a coach.”

Brooke scored 15 of her points in the first half off of five 3-pointers, including three in the second quarter.

She was held to one bucket in the second half that came in the fourth quarter.

“We realized at half that Brooke Kriegl was dominating everybody and we needed to stop her. We decided to go and try to take her out of the game and I think we did. Nothing like her first half,” Johnson said. “We did a diamond and one. What we didn’t do well after we took her out of the game, we didn’t help out around that area where we needed to step up on other parts of the floor. That’s where we faltered a little bit. Now I know we can play something like that.”

Kingsford held a 38-20 halftime lead.

Kingsford plays at Escanaba on Jan 11.

Iron Mountain hosts Norway on Tuesday.

Iron Mountain 9 11 18 18 — 56

Kingsford 19 19 17 17 — 72

IRON MOUNTAIN (56): Poupore 22, Ellis 12, Swartout 10, Lundholm 6, Hoffman 3, Stoner 2. FT: 10-17. F: 13. 3PT: Swartout 1, Lundholm 1, Hoffman 1.

KINGSFORD (72): B. Kriegl 17, J. Kriegl 17, Olivia Allen 16, Roberts 15, Koski 4, Cross 3. FT: 7-12. F: 17. 3PT: B. Kriegl 5, Roberts 2, Cross 1, Allen 1.