IRON RIVER — The final score of the Hancock-West Iron County girls basketball game Tuesday night looks abysmal. But in reality, the contest featured terrific defensive play along with long stretches with few turnovers.

Accordingly, the only thing missing in the game was accurate shooting with Hancock sinking enough buckets to upend the Wykons 27-21 in West Iron’s regular-season finale.

With the loss, the Wykons move into the MHSAA Division 3 District 65 with a 4-18 record. They will face Westwood (12-9) in Ishpeming on Monday.

Against the Bulldogs (13-7), the separation between the teams came in the third quarter when Hancock outscored West Iron 11-5 to take a 23-13 lead into the fourth quarter.

However, the Wykons came back to slice the Hancock lead to four late in the game but were unable to make it closer.

“(Hancock) expanded the lead on it and I thought it deflated our energy a little bit,” WIC coach Eric Shamion said. “To the kids’ credit, they locked it down in the fourth quarter and played a lot better, got within four and really battled.”

The start of the West Pac Conference encounter was strange, given the way the game turned out. West Iron scored five points in the first minute of the game on a layup by Lilly De Sousa and a 3-pointer from Kaitlyn Smith, while holding the Bulldogs scoreless.

“We wanted to approach this game as a district prep game and I thought the kids locked in for the most part,” Shamion said. “I thought there was good energy on defense. You know, we held a pretty good Hancock team to 12 points in the first half. The trouble was, we couldn’t score and only had eight.”

After putting up five in the first minute of play, the Wykons took the next 19 minutes to score another five points.

By then, the contest had advanced to the third quarter.

Despite that empty stretch, West Iron was still within 12-10 with 7:05 remaining in the third period before Hancock pulled away on an 11-1 run to build a 12-point advantage

Trailing 25-13 early in the fourth, West Iron ran off eight straight points to pull within four with 2:51 remaining. De Sousa sparked the rally with two jumpers and a layup while Sidney Storti sank a layup off an assist by Smith.

The Wykons had chances to pull even closer but missed a layup and a 3-pointer in the next minute. The Bulldogs were able to stem the tide with two free throws from junior Lydia Pelli to account for the final score.

Pelli and junior Alecia Aho topped Hancock with eight points each.

De Sousa paced the Wykons with eight points, while Storti added seven.

The Wykons finished with 14 turnovers against Hancock’s aggressive man-to-man defense, a total far below their season average. Half of those miscues came in the third quarter while West Iron committed just four in the opening quarter, none in the second and three in the fourth.

“This team can play some decent basketball, but the turnovers have to be down, and we’ve got to be able to make a few shots every quarter,” Shamion said. “And that will kind of determine how far we go in the tournament.”

SCORING

HANCOCK – Biekkola 2 0-0 4, Pelli 2 2-4 8, Aho 3 2-4 8, Chynoweth 0 1-2 1, Koskela 0 1-2 1, K. Pietila 1 0-0 3, L’Esperance 1 0-0 2. Totals: 9 6-12 27. Three-pointers: 3 (Pelli 2, K. Pietila). Turnovers: 15.

WEST IRON – De Sousa 4 0-0 8, Smith 1 0-0 3, Fiszer 0 0-2 0, Storti 3 1-2 7, L.Shamion 0 3-3 3. Totals: 8 4-7 21. Three-pointers: 1 (Smith). Turnovers: 14.