CINDERELLA DANCES ON: Braves Beat Kingsford
GLADSTONE---Megan Crow scored 27 points to lead the Gladstone Braves to a 61-46 win over the Kingsford Flivvers in the MHSAA Division Two district semifinals Wednesday night, continuing an improbable playoff run that now sees the girls in the district final. And on their home court, to boot. They trailed by ten points early on, and still trailed, 16-10, after one quarter, and 25-20, midway through the second quarter. Gladstone rallied to take a 27-26 lead at halftime as Maddie Ahlgren scored just before the end of the second quarter to complete a 7-1 spurt to close the half. The Braves, led by Crow, continued to dominate in the third quarter, as she scored eight points in a 14-6 Gladstone run that had the home team ahead, 41-32. Gladstone never trailed from there and built on the lead in the fourth quarter, as Crow made six free throws. Besides Crow's 17 points, Andie Balenger had 11 points (nine in the first half). Alaina Trudeau andMarnnea LaFave both scored eight points. The Braves will host a district championship game Friday night against the arch-rival Escanaba Eskymos, who beat Houghton in overtime, 58-57, in Wednesday's other semifinal game. Escanaba (12-7) beat Gladstone twice in the regular season in a apir of tight eight-point games. Friday's game starts at 7:00 and will be broadcast on WGMV-FM (Maverick 106.3), WCHT-AM (NewsTalk 600), and on-line at www.rrnsports.com. Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos taken by Brenda Crow. |