IRON RIVER — Over the course of its pre-holiday schedule, the West Iron County girls basketball team struggled offensively, resulting in three losses in its initial four games.

But in their first game of 2025 on Friday night, the Wykons improved their offensive execution and dealt rival Forest Park a 55-33 defeat at Charles Greenlund Gymnasium.

Senior post Sidney Storti led a balanced scoring attack with 13 points, senior guard Katelyn Smith added 12 and junior guard Lily De Sousa chipped in with 10 as the Wykons recorded their largest point total of the young season.

“I’m happy that the kids performed (well) tonight,” WIC coach Eric Shamion said. “We’ve had a slow start to the season, and coming out of Christmas break, you never know what team is going to show up.

“But they played the way we wanted them to play tonight, with some intensity and with some purpose, and I’m really proud of the overall effort from all the kids.”

With the victory, the Wykons extended their winning streak against the Lady Trojans to nine. The last time the Lady Trojans knocked off WIC was Feb. 13, 2020, in Crystal Falls.

Freshman Bristol Shamion initially sparked the Wykons (2-3) with a 3-pointer and a putback. De Sousa scored a layup off a backscreen, and Lacey Shamion recorded a bucket off a rebound to give WIC a 9-0 lead with 2:58 left in the first.

Forest Park junior guard Elsie Williams stopped the run with a free throw and senior guard Kaidince Woollard added another, but the Wykons answered with layups by Storti and senior reserve Hailey Murillo to go up 13-2 with 90 seconds remaining in the opening frame.

The Lady Trojans (3-4) scored the first five points of the second quarter on a 3-pointer by freshman Audrey Williams and a putback by junior Jessie Loehr to slice WIC’s lead to 16-10.

But the Wykons answered with a bucket by Julia Swenski and two more from Storti off assists from Smith and Swenski to reestablish a 12-point advantage.

Coach Shamion spoke about his team’s offensive execution afterwards.

“I thought the kids executed on the screens, hit the cutters when they needed to and got some easy buckets,” the eighth-year head coach said. “And I think that started us off early and we just kind of built on that throughout the game.”

On the other side, the Lady Trojans scuffled offensively against WIC’s man-to-man defense, understandably so. Forest Park does not field a junior varsity squad this season and started three freshmen (Audrey Williams, Harper Anderson and Aubrey Waara-Shamion) against a WIC team which has eight upperclassmen among its nine players.

With their youth, the Lady Trojans struggled to score against the bigger and more physical Wykons.

“We had a slow start and had a tough time getting shots to fall,” FP coach Kim Bjork said. “We did a better job limiting turnovers (10) and had some good hustle plays.”

The game was decided early in the third quarter when West Iron delivered an 11-2 knockout. Smith buried two 3-pointers, Storti sank three free throws and Swenski added a hoop off an assist from Lacey Shamion to help the Wykons build a 34-15 lead.

Woollard sank a triple and freshman Evie Anderson scored in transition to pull the Lady Trojans within 14, but De Sousa hit a free throw and a 3-pointer to stop FP’s mini-run.

De Sousa began the fourth quarter with a layup and a pull-up jumper during her team’s 8-0 spurt. The junior guard got her first varsity start against Forest Park in place of senior Rowyn Fiszer (out of town) and responded with her best performance so far.

“A kid like Lily, who has been working hard and has had limited minutes, tonight she comes and scores 10 points for us,” Coach Shamion said. “That’s really going to boost her confidence.”

It was that kind of night for the Wykons, who saw all eight players score, including Murillo, a senior who did not play basketball the past two seasons.

“And then a kid who is a senior, Haily Murillo, who has never scored on the varsity court, she put one in and … the look on her face was priceless,” Shamion said.

Next up for the Lady Trojans is a home date with Florence on Tuesday. Forest Park will then get back into Skyline Central Conference play Friday, Jan. 10 when they host Stephenson.

West Iron was scheduled to host Kingsford (3-4) tonight and then will welcome unbeaten Negaunee (9-0) to town Tuesday.

“January is going to be hot and heavy with games and we’ve got some really good competition lined up,” Shamion said. “But I like my team. I think if we can play with some intensity on offense and defense, we can be a force.

“And win or lose, we’ll keep learning, and we’ll get these kids ready for the end of February.”

SCORING

FOREST PARK – E. Williams 3 4-10 11, Ka. Woollard 1 1-2 4, Waara-Shamion 2 3-7 7, A. Williams 2 0-0 6, Loehr 1 1-2 3, E. Anderson 1 0-0 2. Totals 10 9-21 33. 3-pointers: 4 (A. Williams 2, E. Williams, Ka. Woollard).

WEST IRON – B. Shamion 3 0-0 7, De Sousa 4 2-4 10, L. Shamion 2 0-2 4, Storti 4 5-6 13, Murillo 1 1-2 3, Smith 4 0-0 12, Swenski 2 0-0 4, Johnson 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 8-14 55. 3-pointers: 5 (Smith 4, B. Shamion).