Westwood's Madelyn Koski, left, dribbles past Kingsford's Hannah Carlson on Friday, in Kingsford. (Iron Mountain Daily News by Adam Niemi).

By ADAM NIEMI

Iron Mountain Daily News

KINGSFORD — The Westwood High School girls basketball team just never found a foothold to overcome Kingsford in a 45-41 loss on Friday.

The Patriots (0-1) held within a few points of Kingsford’s lead for most of the game but a three-pointer by Flivvers’ Jordyn Kriegl with just more than two minutes left in the game sucked enough momentum. Westwood had chances after Kriegl’s three-pointer to put Kingsford (2-0) up 43-37. But the Patriots failed to capitalize, having missed a three-pointer and layup.

Westwood coach Kurt Corcoran said the team showed building blocks for a good season after a five-win season a year ago.

“I thought our girls played hard. I thought there was a little extra pep in our step compared to last year,” Corcoran said. “We made that extra pass many times — drove quick, real unselfish. Everybody scored, we just didn’t score anybody in double digits. I’m real happy. Last year, this team scored 60 points on us. Holding them to 45 and that’s a winnable game and that’s where we need to be.”

Madelyn Koski and Elizabeth Farley both scored eight points to lead the Patriots. All nine Westwood players scored at least a point.

Kingsford’s Jordan Kriegl led the Flivvers with 19 points, while Hannah Carlson chipped in 16. Flivvers coach Mike Cross said the two are critical pieces to the offense.

“We were kind of nip-and-tuck there for most of the game,” Cross said. “I thought we had some kids that stepped up late in the game. I thought Jordyn Kriegl did an outstanding job at the end of the game as far as making free throws and that three-pointer to put us up by six. That was a big shot. It’s nice to see that.

“Most of the game, we leaned on Hannah to do our scoring for us,” Cross added. “She was kind of beastly, really good in the post for us. Second half, she got into some foul trouble and we got away from that.”

The teams were deadlocked 24-24 at halftime.

Cross said the Flivvers missed opportunities with passes down low that came too late and led to turnovers.

“Some of that, when you’ve got a kid in the post, you can’t wait to get them the ball,” Cross said.

“If you catch the ball, you gotta look in there right away and get them the ball right away. If you wait too long, that keys other defenders to come to the ball or come to where the ball is going.”