Florence senior Kamdan Johnson, left, battles for a rebound with Niagara’s Sydney Swanson in the second half on Friday in Niagara, Wis. (Sean Chase/Daily News photo)

NIAGARA, Wis. — Every time Niagara and Florence meet up, it’s going to be a battle.

The rivalry lived up to the hype Friday as the Niagara girls varsity basketball team welcomed the LadyCats to town.

After starting slow and trailing by double digits, Florence (9-6, 2-2) escaped Niagara with a 38-35 win over the Lady Badgers (8-8, 4-6).

Despite battling early foul trouble, the LadyCats turned up the defensive pressure in the second half to secure the win.

“We were on it in the locker room,” Florence head coach Kris Johnson said. “We wanted to apply pressure, but we didn’t want to get into any further foul trouble. We started out by doing the same thing. But, we had Mills with two fouls in the first five minutes. Miley VanDenHeuvel and Kamdan, they all had a couple of fouls. So, it changed how aggressive we could be. We had to just lay it out there for the final 10 minutes. We played a little smarter and I’m proud of the way they battled and stuck with it.”

While things went in Niagara’s favor early, when the game began to get closer things fell apart.

“The game got extremely rough,” Lady Badgers head coach Karl Lamoreaux said. “It wasn’t a smooth game and we need to be able to handle physical hands on the ball handler, better than we did.”

The Lady Badgers opened the game focused on getting the ball in the paint. Junior Alivia Kleikamp scored the first four points down low, and Niagara opened a 5-0 lead.

Florence senior Kamdan Johnson stopped the run at the free-throw line, and four minutes into the first half, it trailed by three.

Bristol Sanicki extended the lead with a 3-pointer from the corner. However, Kamdan Johnson immediately answered with a three of her own. LadyCats freshman Kelsi Chrisman cut the lead to five with 10 minutes left in the frame. Then things took a turn.

The Lady Badgers scored eight straight points, pushing the lead to 14 with two and a half minutes until the break.

CeCe Mills ended the run with a jab-step 3-pointer, and Florence went into halftime trailing 24-11.

“I wanted to make sure that they knew the game wasn’t over,” coach Johnson said.

“We missed some decent looks and if we can turn that around, and be more effective with our pressure, the tides can turn pretty quick,” he added.

“I told them, ‘(On Thursday) at practice, it’s a marathon. It’s not a sprint. It’s not about how you start, it’s about how you finish.’ For the most part, we stuck with our plan. (We) caused some chaos in that full-court pressure, that led to some offense.”

Instead of panicking, coach Johnson leaned on his team’s defensive prowess to turn the game around.

“Defensively, they made some tough shots in the first half,” coach Johnson said. “I thought we were communicating and switching hard on the perimeter. Whoever we had guarding (Kleikamp and Rachael Walker) in the post was really battling. Defensively, we held them in check just enough to get over the hump in the end.

“Abby Novak did a great job defending the post and battling with their taller post players.”

Mills led the LadyCats with eight points in the second half. Naomi Millan added six points and Chrisman pitched in five.

Florence held Niagara to 11 points in the second half.

“We wanted to push the tempo when we got a defensive rebound,” coach Johnson said. “But, we were a little out of sync in our rotations and positioning, against the zone, in the first half.

“We cleaned that up and got a little better looks and more organized in the second half.”

Mills led Florence with 11 points.

The LadyCats also received contributions from Kamdan Johnson (10 points), Millan (6 points), VanDenHeuvel (2 points), Chrisman (5 points), Novak (2 points) and Bryn Sullivan (2 points).

Sydney Swanson led Niagara with 11 points.

The Lady Badgers also received contributions from Mallory Sanicki (2 points), Bristol Sanicki (6 points), Peyton Neuens-Allred (6 points), Alivia Kleikamp (9 points) and Rachael Walker (1 point).

Both teams are back in action today. Florence heads to Elcho, Wis. to face the Purple Hornets in a Northern Lakes Conference clash while Niagara is in Lena, Wis.

LADY TROJANS 70, BRONCOS 48

CRYSTAL FALLS — Although it started slow after the holiday break, the Forest Park girls varsity basketball team is rolling.

On Friday, the Lady Trojans (6-7, 1-1) kept their momentum going as they quickly dispatched Bark River-Harris (2-9, 1-1) for a 70-48 non-conference win in Crystal Falls.

“We shot well,” FP head coach Kim Bjork said. “We put together a solid game. The girls kept on the throttle for four quarters.

“I’m really impressed with our effort defensively. Elsie (Williams) had a big game scoring for us, and we had scoring from multiple girls. It was a great team win (I’m) proud of everyone.”

The Lady Trojans opened with 19 points in the first quarter. Defensively, they struggled to slow the Broncos, who scored 17 points in the frame.

Forest Park’s lead increased to 13 points at halftime after it racked up 21 second-quarter points.

Bark River-Harris’ offense experienced another lull in the third quarter. It scored 12 points in eight minutes.

The Broncos outscored the Lady Trojans 9-8 in the fourth quarter. However, it wasn’t enough to make up for the slow start, and Forest Park won 70-48.

Elsie Williams led all scorers in the contest with 32 points. She was 11-for-21 from the field and 7-for-12 from 3-point range. Williams also tallied four assists, five rebounds and two steals.

The Lady Trojans also received contributions from Harper Anderson (7 points), Kaidince Wollard (1 assist, 1 rebound, 1 steal), Audrey Williams (8 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds), Evie Anderson (2 points, 1 rebound), Lily Sarder (2 points, 1 rebound), Khali Woollard (4 points, 1 assist, 3 steals), Aubrey Waara-Shamion (5 points, 1 assist, 6 rebounds, 2 steals), Dani Alquist (3 points, 2 rebounds) and Dalaney Wagner (2 points, 1 rebound).

Forest Park is back in action today at home against Carney-Nadeau for a Skyline Central Conference-Small School clash.

MINERS 67, MOUNTAINEERS 28

IRON MOUNTAIN — The Negaunee girls varsity basketball team came to Iron Mountain on Thursday looking to keep its perfect record intact.

The Miners (14-0, 7-0) did just that as they defeated the Mountaineers (3-10, 1-5) 67-28 in a West PAC-East Division clash.

Negaunee opened the first quarter with a 17-point performance. Ashlynn VanLannen led Iron Mountain with four points in the frame and it went into the second trailing by 11 points.

The Miners outscored the Mountaineers in all four quarters. The Mountaineers best quarter was the fourth. They scored nine points in the frame and held Negaunee to 11.

VanLannen led Iron Mountain with 19 points in the game.

The Mountaineers received contributions from Bella Pickett (2 points), Olivia Geneva (3 points), Alysia Wood (2 points) and Gerilis Sampoll-Torres (2 points).

Iron Mountain went 8-for-20 from the charity stripe.

The Mountaineers are back in action today at home against Ishpeming.