Taylor Sebbas of Hancock takes the ball to the hoop in Tuesday night's game versus West Iron County. The Bulldogs dropped their season opener by a 60-36 score. (Paul Peterson)

HANCOCK — The West Iron County Wykons were everything Hancock High girls basketball coach Jack Johnson expected — and maybe a little more.

“Bottom line, they (Wykons) are a very good basketball team,” Johnson said after his team’s 60-36 opening season West-PAC loss Tuesday. “They shoot the ball well, they’re long inside and they play good defense.”

The much taller Wykons boasted a starting lineup of 6-foot-1, 5-foot-11 and 5-foot-10. They used that size advantage to command a 46-25 edge on the boards.

“We felt we would give Hancock a tough time on the boards with our size,” WIC coach Jim Shamion said. “We didn’t always finish what we started, but we did it well enough.”

After a fairly tight first quarter, the visitors used a 9-0 run late in the stanza to mount a 17-8 lead.

D’Andra Kero scored all of the Bulldogs (0-1, 0-1 West-PAC) points in the first quarter.

West Iron (1-0, 1-0 West-PAC) grabbed a 29-15 lead late in the opening half before Taylor Sebbas of Hancock hit two driving buckets to make it a 29-19 game at the half.

But with Emily Nelson hitting six points, the winners went on a 12-0 tear to seize a 41-19 margin just five minutes into the third quarter.

“They had the ability to go off on those rallies and hold us down,” Johnson commented.

Eden Colliher used her 6-foot-1 frame to score a game-best 20 points for WIC. She also grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the way on the boards.

Nelson added 11 points for the Wykons, while Malmquist put in 10 more.

Kero and Sebbas scored 12 points each for the Crimson and Gold, with the latter also taking down 11 rebounds.

Hancock will host Jeffers on Friday.

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West Iron 17 12 23 7 – 60

Hancock 8 11 4 13 – 36

HANCOCK — Malmquist 10, Gasperini 1, Golliher 20, Tomasoski 6, Nelson 11, Serbantes 2, Stine 4, Latvis 3, Rebounds: 46 (Golliher 13); Fouls: 18; Fouled out: None. 3-point FG: Latvis 1.

HANCOCK — Brooks 5, Sebbas 12, Berg 2, Kero 12, Heinonen 4, Osterman 1. Rebounds: 25 (Sebbas 13); Fouls: 17: Fouled out: Brooks; 3-point FG: Brooks 1, Sebbas 1, Kero 1.