IRON RIVER—2010 could not have started out much better for West Iron County’s girls basketball team.

After defeating Hancock and Forest Park the week before, the Wykons defeated Bessemer 46-39 on Jan. 12 and came back home Jan. 14 for an easy 65-22 win over a young Florence team.

That’s four wins in a row for the Wykons, who enter this week 5-4 overall and 3-2 in the West Pac Conference.

West Iron had it all its own way in the home date against Florence. They scored the first nine points of the game and had a 21-6 lead after the first quarter. By halftime, it was up to 35-13.

The Bobcats struggled on offense in the first half, shooting 15% from the floor, but it was much worse after that. They made only 1 of 26 shots from the floor in the second half, a 4% shooting percentage. For the game, they were 5 of 53—9%--against the Wykon defense.

“We played solid defense,” said Coach Mike Dallavalle. “We did a lot better job getting out on people. We didn’t leave girls wide open for shots, as we did early in the year.”

Kylee Erickson led West Iron with 17 points, Desi Rasmussen had 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Jaclyn Waara finished with 11 points, six steals and three assists. Shannon Koski scored nine, and Alexis Heimerl had six rebounds before fouling out. West Iron shot 39% overall.

“Desi had a great game inside,” Dallavalle said, “and Jaclyn and Kylee did a great job getting the ball in there.” Erickson penetrated well and hit some open shots.

While it was an easy win, the team’s game was hurt by fouls and physical play. The refs were busy with their whistles, and by the final horn, 52 total free throws had been shot. West Iron was sharp at the line, making 16 of 23 (70%), but all the breaks in the action seemed to get the Wykons out of sync.

Dallavalle said most of the Wykons’ turnovers came when the girls tried to force the ball inside. “We did a good job of getting the ball inside,” he added, “but there were at least 10 instances when we didn’t have anything there and threw it anyway.”

“We played well. We executed well for the most part. We’re starting to use our screens better and find open people, which is nice to see.”

On Jan. 12, the Wykons visited Bessemer and won 46-39 in what their coach called a sloppy game.

“Very, very physical,” he said. Unlike the Florence game, the refs at Bessemer kept their whistles in their pockets, allowing play got rough, especially on drives to the basket.

West Iron shot only six free throws until the final minute, when the Wykons went into a stall. “We did what we needed to do to get good looks at the basket or get free throws, and they just weren’t calling anything.

“We went from one extreme to the other.”

West Iron’s pressure defense kept them in the game. “They [the Speedgirls] played some junk defense on us in the second half, and we had trouble adjusting to that. That kept them in the game.” Bessemer got as close as three points in the final minutes.

Waara led the Wykons with 19 points (10 in the third quarter), Heimerl scored 10, and Erickson had seven. Heimerl had 13 rebounds, and Erickson had five steals.

Shiann Dean was high scorer for Bessemer with 11.

In their only game this week, the Wykons travel to Houghton’s new gym Jan. 22 to face the Gremlins. They are back home Jan. 25 for a rematch against Bessemer.

Wykons 5 15 14 12 -- 46
Speedgirls 3 7 18 11 -- 39

Bobcats 6 7 5 4 -- 22
Wykons 21 14 13 17 -- 65