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Gladstone Girls Ramp Up Defense To Top Maroons
 GLADSTONE---The Gladstone High School girls basketball team got 25 points from Leigha Woellfer and played strong defense to turn back the Menominee Maroons, 54-28, Tuesday night in Gladstone. The Braves improved to 5-6 on the season. Gladstone led 9-7 late in the first quarter when Alyssa Polley got a steal and drove in the other direction for a basket and a foul shot. The Braves carried that defensive intensity into the second quarter, and they built a 28-14 halftime lead.  "But the defensive end, that's just effort and hard work. We had a lot of girls who buckled down and as a team, bought into what we were selling on what's a good formula to get some (defensive) stops, in the plan against Menominee." Gladstone sophomores Alyssa Polley and Taylor Hunter had good defensive efforts, along with scoring nine and eight points, respectively. "He wants us to shut down (Paige) Barrette and (Morgan) Roman," Polley said. "And we knew that Roman could push the ball once she got it in her hands, so we had to cut her off as soon as possible, And we knew that Barrette could shoot, so we stayed up on her." "We were told to push the ball up the floor, and handle the ball, and be good under pressure" Hunter added. "I know I have to work hard to get my spots (playing time)." Barrette was limited to ten points while Roman was held to six points. Offensively, Woellfer again led the way, scoring 25 points while not playing in the final minutes of the game. She had nine of her points in the second quarter. Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to listen to post-game interviews, and see photos and videos taken by Nate Bellville.  |
