Braves Battle Hard But Sick Redettes Survive, 38-33

GLADSTONE---Gladstone High School girls basketball coach Karl Dollhopf knew that there was no way that his young team could compete with the talented Marquette Redettes by playing the run-and-gun style that the Marquette girls like to play.

With only eight players...two of them sophomores...Dollhopf knew that his team would have to slow down the game and play great defense to even have a chance to win.

"It was something that we talked about at practice and everyone had to kind of buy in to the plan," Dollhopf said. "I ran it by the girls, and I said that I really believed that this would be our best opportunity to keep it close and hava an opportunity to win it in the fourth quarter."

"Credit to our girls. They stuck by the plan."

Indeed they did, and the girls hung around all night before Marquette escaped with a 38-33 win at the Gladstone gym.

Marquette was weakened with injuries to two players, and several other girls played through a nasty case of the flu to pull out the Great Northern Conference win.

"I talked all week that Coach Dollhopf would probably have his kids prepared as well or better than anyone that we would play against all year," Marquette Coach Ben Smith said. "He's got a pretty keen sense of finding something that works and sticking with it."

The first quarter was slow, with Gladstone leading, 7-6, after the first eight minutes.

Marquette's Destiny Beckwith nails the three

The pace picked up a bit in the second quarter, and the Braves made a couple of turnovers that helped Marquette to grab a 12-7 lead.

Gladstone went almost seven minutes without scoring a point, but managed to regain the momentum to grab a 17-16 halftime lead.

Gladstone sophomore Leigha Woellfer, best-known for being the Upper Peninsula's state champion in cross-country back in the fall, scored two straight baskets to give the Braves the lead late in the second quarter.

Ashley Edwardsen scores on a putback

"They defended very tough, and offensively, they were very deliberate," Smith said of the Braves. "We gave up too many easy buckets, but they scrapped them out of there, too. When they want to slow it down, it magnifies every possession."

"We're not real deep," Dollhopf said. "We're down to eight players. Everyone knows that they have to make a contribution in order for us to compete. Everyone I put on the floor, I thought, competed hard. That's a good team and we hung with them."

But Marquette's Hunter Viittala scored five quick points to start the third quarter, putting her team ahead, 21-17. Marquette's lead grew to 26-19, but Gladstone senior Alexis St. Cry scored six straight points to close that deficit back to 26-25.

Marquette kept a small lead the rest of the way, but the Braves kept hanging around with tough defense that took the Redettes out of their comfort zone.

St. Cyr's jumper with 2:12 left closed the gap to 36-33, and the Braves got a turnover that gave them a chance to tie the game. But Woellfer's three-pointer missed the mark.

The Redettes kept running down the clock as the Braves had to commit five straight fouls just to get into the bonus. Destiny Beckwith made two free throws with 24.7 seconds left to make it a two-possession game, and Marquette got the win.

Alexis St. Cyr late fourth quarter hoop

"We knew we had to slow down the tempo," St. Cyr said. "Marquette is a really good team. They're fast. They're experienced. The girls know how to play ball."

"So, we were making every single possession count. Bringing them out, trying to get the best shot possible. And I think we did that pretty well tonight."

Gladstone played without senior Bridget Becker, who hurt her knee during last Friday's loss to Gwinn. Becker will go to Green Bay for an MRI on that knee later this week.

Marquette (3-0) was the heavy favorite, considering the team was coming off a tournament championship last weekend in Petoskey, in which they beat both St. Ignace and Brighton. Gladstone fell to 1-2 on the season.

"The girls really fought hard on both sides," Smith said. "We made enough plays to win. Destiny and Hunter each had eleven."

"I thought Lizzy Kurin did a nice job of scrapping put a few balls in there. Shayla (Huebner) had the tough job of chasing around St. Cyr, and try to keep her in the center of the floor."

"Shayla made a couple of nice momentum-changing, tempo-changing plays, that just kind of got us moving," Smith concluded.

Beckwith had 12 points, including three three-pointers and those big free throws to lead the Redettes. Viitala added 11. For the Braves, St. Cyr had 12 points and Woellfer added seven. Marquette also won the junior varsity game, 62-39.

Gladstone is on the road Thursday night with a game at Ishpeming. It will be broadcast live on WCHT-AM (600), and at www.rrnsports.com, starting at 7:30.

Click the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see videos and photos taken by Mike Dagenais and Nate Bellville, and to hear post-game interviews.

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

12/2	7:30 PM	at Negaunee Miners	54 - 39 (W)	1-0

12/5	7:30 PM	Gwinn Model Towners	38 - 44 (L)	1-1

12/9	7:30 PM	Marquette Redmen	33 - 38 (L)	1-2

12/11	7:40 PM	at Ishpeming Hematites	38 - 36 (W)	2-2

12/16	8:00 PM	at Kingsford Flivvers	49 - 43 (W)	3-2

12/27	3:00 PM	Houghton Gremlins	36 - 32 (W)	4-2

1/6	8:00 PM	at Stephenson Eagles	66 - 58 (W)	5-2

1/9	7:30 PM	Escanaba Eskymos	54 - 43 (W)	6-2

1/16	7:30 PM	at Manistique Emeralds	58 - 23 (W)	7-2

1/19	7:20 PM	at Marquette Redmen	46 - 64 (L)	7-3

1/27	8:00 PM	at Menominee Maroons	41 - 38 (W)	8-3

1/29	7:15 PM	Rapid River Rockets	61 - 12 (W)	9-3

2/3	7:15 PM	Negaunee Miners	43 - 37 (W)	10-3

2/6	7:15 PM	Menominee Maroons	40 - 49 (L)	10-4

2/10	7:15 PM	Ishpeming Hematites	43 - 33 (W)	11-4

2/12	7:15 PM	Westwood Patriots	PPD - PPD (T)	PPD

2/16	7:30 PM	at Escanaba Eskymos	51 - 44 (W)	12-4

2/21	2:30 PM	at Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils	59 - 54 OT (W)	13-4

2/24	7:15 PM	Kingsford Flivvers	39 - 46 (L)	13-5

2/26	7:30 PM	at Iron Mountain Mountaineers	45 - 28 (W)	14-5

3/4	7:00 PM	Escanaba Eskymos	27 - 46 (L)	14-6