Iron Mountain senior Gerilis Sampoll-Torres (22) drives to the rim while holding off Bark River-Harris sophomore Emma Zawada (14) on Thursday at Mountaineer Gym. (Sean Chase/Daily News photo)

IRON MOUNTAIN — When you end a basketball game 18-for-47 from the free throw line, you rarely take home the win.

But, don’t tell that to the Iron Mountain (3-4, 1-0) girls varsity basketball team, who did just that by dispatching Bark River-Harris (1-5, 1-0) 58-50 in Mountaineer Gym on Thursday.

“Bark River played tough down the stretch and we weren’t converting our free throws, it was killing us,” IM head coach Chad Lindeman said. “We’re lucky to come out of there with a win. Give Bark River credit, they fought back, played hard and they did a nice job.”

An Emma Zawada 3-pointer from dead center gave the Broncos a 3-0 right away in the first quarter. However, they wouldn’t score again for nearly five minutes. During that span, IM senior Macy Linsenbigler handled business.

Linsenbigler hauled in a rebound and converted a layup, a minute into the game, to tie things at three. On the next possession, senior Gerilis Sampoll-Torres buried a 3-pointer from the left wing and the Mountaineers took their first lead of the game, 6-3.

When Bark River-Harris scored again, on a layup from Marissa Ives, it trailed 17-5.

Linsenbigler finished the first quarter with 13 points and the Mountaineers took a 24-10 advantage into the second.

Iron Mountain’s only issue in the first quarter was limiting its fouls. Senior Bella Pickett picked up her third foul with 35 seconds left in the frame. She wouldn’t commit another foul in the contest.

“We like to play pressure defense, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t,” Lindeman said. “Bella (Pickett) is a competitor and she knew what she had to do.

“She’s a great defender and she plays very, very hard. She never leaves anything out on the floor. Everything is 110% with her. I can’t say enough good things about Bella. She works hard.”

Iron Mountain’s struggles from the free throw line continued in the second. It missed four attempts from the charity stripe.

However, the Broncos missed six in the frame and they trailed 30-14 at the break.

Iron Mountain exited the locker room on a roll in the third quarter. Ava Marttila connected on a reverse lay up and then found Wood for a wide-open jumper from the free throw line as the lead ballooned to 19 points.

Bark River-Harris wasn’t backing down. It took advantage of the Mountaineers’ lack of size in the paint and began feeding junior Melinah Cortez. She scored seven in the frame and hauled in multiple offensive rebounds. Ives pitched in six points as well and the Broncos out-scored Iron Mountain, 20-16, in the frame.

“We’re going to work on boxing-out and rebounding,” Lindeman said. “Our rebounding has been less than adequate.”

Sampoll-Torres found Linsenbigler on a no-look pass for a layup to kick off the Mountaineers’ fourth-quarter scoring. However, the offensive success continued for Bark River-Harris in the fourth. It entered the frame trailing by 12 points.

Cortez converted a layup, cutting into the IM lead. But that’s when things took a turn for the Broncos.

Ives drove to the rim, looking for an easy layup. Instead, Linsenbigler stepped in front and forced a charging call. That was Ives’ fifth foul and she left the court.

On the next possession, Marttila threw a full-court pass to Linsenbigler, setting up an easy layup and the lead grew to 14 points.

Bark River-Harris wasn’t fazed and continued cutting into the lead as IM struggled at the line. The Mountaineers missed 19 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter, allowing the Broncos to cut the lead to five with three minutes to play.

Iron Mountain had multiple opportunities to seal the game from the free throw line as time ran out. The Mountaineers just couldn’t convert, but they weren’t going to quit either.

“They’re all competitors,” Lindeman said. “None of them like to lose, but bottom line, you can’t miss 19 free throws in the fourth quarter. If we’re going to be a good team, at some point this year, we have to make our free throws.”

Then with 1:31 to play, Zawada picked up her fifth foul sending Wood to the line. She made one of two, which Linsenbigler and Sampoll-Torres each matched to secure the 58-50 win.

Despite its issues shooting, Iron Mountain had improvements

“We limited our turnovers,” Lindeman said. “We didn’t have nearly as many as we have in the past. We’ve been working on that in practice. … We ran our offense a lot more cleanly and we were sharper on the press.”

Linsenbigler led all scorers in the contest with 25 points.

Iron Mountain also received contributions from Pickett (3 points), Marttila (6 points), Wood (15 points), Bella Person (2 points) and Sampoll-Torres (10 points).

Cortez led the Broncos with 13 points.

Bark River-Harris also received contributions from Ives (9 points), Hope Varoni (10 points), Jillian Koch (1 point), Lexi Hoffmeyer (2 point), Zawada (11 points) and Julia Nault (4 points).

The Broncos were 12 for 24 from the charity stripe. Each team made two 3-pointers in the contest.

Both teams are off until the new year. The Broncos return to action on Jan. 3 in Carney against the Wolves. Iron Mountain is also off until Jan. 3 when it heads to Negaunee for a WestPAC-East Division clash.

“I just want to see us improve over Christmas break,” Lindeman said. “We’re going to be doing a lot of skill stuff that we need to work on. We’re going to face Negaunee out of the gate and that’s going to be a rough game for us. They’re rated high in the state. But, we’ll see.

“All we can do is play the game and see what happens.”

LADY TROJANS 37, COUGARS 22

EBEN JUNCTION — Harper Anderson, Audrey Williams and Elsie Williams each scored 10 points and the Forest Park girls varsity basketball team (3-3) toppled Superior Central in a Skyline Central Conference clash on Thursday in Eben Junction.

“We are moving the ball better offensively,” Lady Trojans head coach Kim Bjork said. “We had a lot of good looks from outside. Our shots are going to start falling more consistently. It’s nice to get a win going into the holiday break.”

Forest Park was 6 for 37 from 3-point land in the contest while holding the Cougars to an 0 for 5 performance from long-range.

The Lady Trojans opened up a six- point lead after the first quarter. That lead continued to grow throughout as they outscored Superior Central 10-4 in the second and 11-10 in the third quarter.

Forest Park freshman Harper Anderson was perfect on two-point attempts, going 2 for 2. She was 2 for 6 from deep while racking up two assists and seven rebounds.

The Lady Trojans also received contributions from Audrey Williams (10 points, 1 assist, 1 rebound, 5 steals), Elsie Williams (10 points, 4 assists, 10 rebounds, 3 steals), Evie Anderson (5 points, 1 assist, 3 rebounds, 1 steal), Lily Sarder (2 points, 3 rebounds), Aubrey Waara-Shamion (6 rebounds, 3 steals), Dani Alquist (1 rebound), Jessie Loehr (2 rebounds, 2 steals), and Dalaney Wagner (1 rebound).

Forest Park is off until Jan. 3 when it heads to Iron River to face West Iron County.