Forest Park freshman Audrey Williams (12) dribbles the ball up the court against North Dickinson on Thursday in the Carl F. Lemin Gymnasium. (Sean Chase/Daily News photo)

FELCH TOWNSHIP — Trailing against Forest Park early in the first quarter, the North Dickinson girls varsity team needed someone to step up on Thursday in the Carl F. Lemin Gymnasium.

The Nordics found that player in freshman Lauren Jungwirth.

“Honestly, I really just wanted to get the win,” Jungwirth said. “I didn’t really care how much I scored as long as we won.”

She recorded a career-high 36 points, helping North Dickinson (12-5, 5-1) grab a 43-28 Skyline Central Conference-Small School Division victory over the Lady Trojans (9-10, 2-3).

“It was two teams that really wanted to win,” Nordics head coach Kirk Mattson said. “We wanted to beat them and they wanted to beat us. It’s a nice rivalry and it always has been.

“Forest Park has some nice shooters, they moved the ball well and really made us work tonight on defense. We got lucky they missed a few wide-open threes. But for the most part, I thought our defense was there, especially in the second half. Overall, it was a nice win for us.”

The Lady Trojans grabbed a 4-1 lead early in the first quarter off of baskets from Audrey Williams and Aubrey Waara-Shamion. But, when they seemed to be ready to make a run, Jungwirth buried a corner 3-pointer. She tallied seven points in the quarter and both teams entered the second tied at nine.

Forest Park opened a five-point lead at the start of the second quarter. However, Alyson Steinbrecher stopped the run, picking off a pass and dishing it to Jungwirth for an easy layup.

Points were hard to come by from there and North Dickinson trailed 16-15 entering the break.

After two quarters, Forest Park’s top scoring threat Elsie Williams had three points.

Mattson’s game plan for dealing with the Lady Trojans’ junior was simple.

“Stop Elsie,” Mattson said. “She’s a fantastic player. She’s a three-level scorer. She can hit you outside, she can make the midrange and get to the basket. She’s a challenge to stop, but our focus was, somebody else has to beat us.

“We knew about (Audrey Williams) too, because she hit a couple of shots against us last time. We lost her a couple of times and we were lucky she didn’t get more.”

Forest Park went right to work in the third quarter, stretching the lead to three points. Then the Nordics began to rally as Jungwirth tallied back-to-back layups, tying the game at 21.

Both teams fell into an offensive slump over the next three minutes.

Jungwirth snapped North Dickinson out of it, scoring seven points in a minute and a half. It led 29-21 after the third quarter.

“I think our conditioning really helped us out in the third and fourth quarter,” Mattson said. “We were able to get to a few loose balls, make a couple of plays and it really opened the game up for us.”

Jungwirth scored 14 points in the final frame to push the Nordics to the win.

“She was dialed in,” Mattson said. “When she’s in that Lauren mode, she’s a handful. She’s really been someone we lean on. When girls collapse on her, we have girls that can score. Tonight, she was determined. She was going to take the game over and that was it. It was fun to watch. I’m very fortunate that we had her on our side tonight.”

North Dickinson received contributions from Raina Ledzian (4 points), Steinbrecher (2 points) and Ava Oman (1 point).

Audrey Williams led Forest Park with 11 points.

The Lady Trojans also received contributions from Harper Anderson (4 points), Elsie Williams (3 points), Evie Anderson (6 points) and Waara-Shamion (4 points).

Forest Park is back in action on Monday in Norway while the Nordics are in Rapid River to face the Rockets.

KNIGHTS 44, WYKONS 25

NORWAY — Early in the season, the Norway girls varsity basketball team was looking for a second scorer. It appears the Knights (9-9, 4-2) have found what they were looking for in sophomore Jessa Rossler.

She scored 15 points on Thursday as Norway picked up a 44-25 win over West Iron County.

From the opening tip, the Knights were all over the Wykons, holding them to two first-quarter points.

Norway junior Lauren Adams led the way for the home team in the frame with six points. Anna Falk and Paytan Carlson each added two and the Knights took an 11-2 advantage into the second.

Sydney Storti scored both of West Iron’s points in the opening frame. She led the Wykons with four in the second.

Adams and Kara Stanchina tallied a 3-pointer for Norway in the quarter. But it was Rossler who led the offense. She racked up six points and the Knights led 25-7 at the half.

Norway made three 3-pointers in the third quarter. Rossler had two, and Carlson added another. West Iron scored its entire first-half total, seven points in the third, but it entered the fourth trailing 36-14.

The Wykons won the fourth quarter, 11-8. Storti scored four, but it wasn’t enough to overtake Norway.

Rossler’s 15 points led all scorers.

The Knights also received contributions from Adams (13 points), Falk (4 points), Carlson (9 points) and Stanchina (3 points).

West Iron received offensive contributions from Storti (10 points), Lily De Sousa (2 points), Kaitlyn Smith (6 points), Lacy Shamion (3 points), Laurel Johnson (2 points) and Grace Smith (2 points).

Norway is back home on Monday against the Lady Trojans. West Iron returns to Iron River on Tuesday against Westwood.

LADY BADGERS 54, WOLVERINES 44

NIAGARA, Wis. — Trailing at halftime against Crivitz, the Niagara girls varsity basketball team’s winning streak was in danger of ending on Thursday.

The Lady Badgers (13-9, 8-7) wouldn’t let that happen.

They dominated the Wolverines (13-7, 9-5) in the second half and picked up a 54-44 Marinette & Oconto Conference win at home. Niagara has won four games in a row.

Junior Alivia Kleikamp led the way in the first half for the Lady Badgers with eight points. Mallory Sanicki added five, Bristol Sanicki scored three and Sydney Swanson pitched in two resulting in 18 first-half points.

Crivitz racked up 23 points in the frame behind eight from Izzy Wesoloski. It led by five points at halftime.

In the first half, Niagara attempted one free throw. That increased to 23 attempts in the second. The Lady Badgers made 16 of those. Kleikamp added 12 points to her total in the frame while Bristol Sanicki and Mallory Sanicki each scored 10.

The Wolverines couldn’t keep pace with Niagara in the final frame and were outscored by 15 points.

Kleikamp led all scorers in the contest with 20 points. She was 4-for-4 from the charity stripe.

The Lady Badgers also received contributions from Mallory Sanicki (15 points), Bristol Sanicki (13 points), Peyton Neuens-Allred (3 points) and Swanson (3 points).

Niagara heads to Oneida on Tuesday.