Westwood’s Karlie Patron, left, shoots over Norway’s Teidra Fuson in a Class C district tournament game Wednesday at West Iron County High School. (Iron Mountain Daily News photo by Burt Angeli)

IRON RIVER — West Iron County will get another up-close look at Norway’s pressure defense in Friday’s Class C girls district basketball championship.

In Wednesday’s semifinals at Charles Greenlund Gymnasium, three players accounted for 40 points as Norway stopped Westwood 43-33, while West Iron County bounced Iron Mountain 67-26.

Westwood (12-9) handed Norway its only loss just a week ago. Madelyn Koski clipped the Knights for 28 points in that game but the freshman was checked to six points on Wednesday.

“I thought our inexperience showed itself a little bit tonight,” Westwood coach Kurt Corcoran said. “Norway has been playing with a real core group of girls for a number of years.

“We played on our heels more often than not and we allowed their aggression to back us into a corner at times. We’re better than that and we’ve played better than that.”

Norway coach Carli Kelly liked the way senior Britta Grayvold along with sophomores Ada VanHolla and Haley Clifford kept Koski under wraps.

“Defensively, they did exactly what they were supposed to do,” Kelly said. “I’m very proud of them. Britta is such a great help defender while Ada and Haley are very fast and very quick.”

Norway’s offense was another matter, producing just a 16-9 halftime lead. Kelly wants more on-court movement in the future.

“We had a lot of good looks,” Kelly said. “We had a lot of good shots. We struggled more than I liked but they just weren’t falling.

“Going into halftime with 16 points, they did a good job defensively on us.”

Norway senior Jordan Kraemer came through with her usual 16 points. The Knights also garnered 12 points apiece from guard Jada Lasater and forward Teidra Fuson.

“Leave Jada open and she can be a sharpshooter,” said Kelly, her senior draining four triples. “If they play a zone we have some outside shooters that can put them in.

“Teidra has those arms and long wingspan. I call her ‘The Albatross.'”

Fuson exemplified hustle with a third-quarter play, blocking a shot at one end and then racing downcourt to take a pass for a layup.

Corcoran said Lasater and Fuson created havoc with the defensive strategy.

“Kraemer makes you pay for all of your mistakes,” Corcoran said. “(Our) game plan is to try to slow down Kraemer as much as you can, and make Jada and Teidra score some buckets.

“They weren’t able to do that last week when we played them. Tonight Jada had four 3s and there’s your ballgame.”

Liz Farley’s 11 points and eight rebounds led the Patriots, who had 14 turnovers.

“Liz Farley needed a little bit of help,” Corcoran said. “We made mistakes every time we got Norway to bend a little bit. You just can’t do this against a good team.”

Westwood closed to 38-33 after a Marissa Carello basket with 2:14 remaining. Norway responded with five straight points including a steal and layup from VanHolla.