Cutline - Iron Mountain senior Gerilis Sampoll-Torres (22) looks to pass against Westwood on Monday in Mountaineer Gym. (Sean Chase/Daily News photo)

IRON MOUNTAIN — Given their struggles to produce consistent offensive output, and with starter Alysia Wood out with a concussion, the Iron Mountain Mountaineers were susceptible to a dry stretch against visiting Westwood on Monday night at Mountaineer Gym.

That stretch came in the second quarter when Iron Mountain went 3½ minutes without scoring and put up just four points total in the period en route to a 52-38 defeat to the Patriots.

During that decisive run, Westwood increased its nine-point lead after the first quarter to 31-10 by the midway point of the second period.

“They played hard from the beginning of the game until the end of the game,” IM coach Chad Lindeman said of his players. “But we’ve got to start out faster. We can’t get down all the time and try to come back all the time.”

Westwood standout senior guard Lexi Olson got the Patriots (3-6) off to a fast start with two 3-pointers and junior Makayla Fisher added two free throws as the visitors grabbed an 8-1 lead.

Macy Linsenbigler and Gerilis Sampoll Torres answered with driving buckets to cut the gap to three before Olson split a pair of free throws, put in a layup on a transition bucket.

Senior Isabelle Marta knocked down a three off an assist from Olson, and followed with a hoop on a leak-out to give the Patriots a 16-8 advantage.

Sampoll Torres received her third foul of the first quarter shortly after, putting freshman Olivia Geneva into the primary ball-handling role.

Geneva hit 3 of 4 free throws late in the first quarter, but Westwood stayed in front by nine heading into the second quarter.

The IM deficit ballooned to 21 with 5:19 to play before halftime. During the quarter, the Mountaineers turned the ball over 13 times and produced just one field goal on a steal and layup by Bella Pickett.

Linsenbigler and Pickett each split two free throws as the quarter wound down, but Westwood held a commanding 33-14 lead at the break.

In all, IM committed 36 turnovers in the game, while Westwood turned the ball over 24 times.

Lindemann knows that the loss of Sampoll Torres to early foul trouble put his freshman guard, Geneva, in a tough spot against Westwood’s traps in the half-court.

“(The trapping defense) definitely affected us, (especially) not having Alysia,” the first-year head coach said. “But give Liv credit. She played through it, she played hard and she started figuring things out towards the end of the game.”

The Mountaineers played better offensively in the second half. In the third quarter, Linsenbigler sank two layups and 3 of 4 free throws as IM outscored Westwood 10-9.

Early in the fourth, Linsenbigler connected on two more free throws and a layup while Geneva scored in transition off a Westwood turnover to pull the Mountaineers within 44-30.

“It’s just another point where the girls don’t quit,” Lindeman said. “They keep battling and battling and battling. Obviously, we’re not the most offensively skilled team so a lot of our stuff has to be created on turnovers.”

The one IM player who can score consistently is Linsenbigler, who finished with a game-high 22 points after a slow start in the first half.

“Macy got going finally, started making her shots, started getting fouls called,” Lindeman said. “She can do that, she can control a game like that, but we also have to get more people involved. We can’t just have one person scoring 20-plus points a game and not getting any support scoring.”

Which is where Wood normally would come in. Still, Geneva produced six points and freshman Monroe Vedin came off the bench and drilled a midrange jumper as the two rookies showed flashes of their potential.

“The fact that two freshmen played a lot of minutes tonight and played well is a big plus,” Lindeman said.

And with the dogged determination of Pickett, who played with a slight hamstring injury and two jammed fingers, the Mountaineers outscored Westwood 24-19 over the final 16 minutes.

Pickett and Sampoll Torres finished with four points each, while Vedin had two.

Olson and Marta led the Patriots with 15 each.

The Mountaineers will look to snap a three-game losing streak when they host Hancock on Friday.

Wood may be available for the game, according to the Iron Mountain head coach.

“It’s going to be fine,” Lindeman said. “They’re going to be fine, we’re going to be fine. We’ve just got to keep progressing as the season goes on.”

SCORING

WESTWOOD – Olson 6 1-2 15, Fisher 0 2-4 2, Marta 6 0-0 15, E. Doney 2 1-2 6, Niemi 1 1-2 3, K. Doney 1 0-0 2, Nurmi 2 0-0 4, Markham 1 0-0 2, Williams 1 0-0 3. Totals 20 5-10 52. 3-pointers: 7 (Marta 3, Olson 2, E. Doney, Williams).

IRON MOUNTAIN – Pickett 1 2-6 4, Linsenbigler 6 10-16 22, Sampoll Torres 1 2-5 4, Geneva 1 4-6 6, Vedin 1 0-0 2. Totals 10 18-33 38. 3-pointers: None.