Marquette Ramps Up Defense To Turn Back Braves

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GLADSTONE---The Marquette High School girls basketball team held the Gladstone Braves to two points in the third quarter and rallied for a 40-35 Great Northern Conference win Tuesday night at the Gladstone High School Gym.

Maria Millado scored 21 of her team's first 31 points, and Meghan McPhee scored three baskets in the paint during the Redettes' third quarter run.

"We were able to finish a few plays in the third quarter off of our defense, which I thought really changed the game," Marquette Coach Ben Smith said. "We didn't shoot the ball all that well throughout the night and had a few too many turnovers. But they're going to force turnovers because they grind at you so hard. But we had a few where we were available and we just didn't execute."

Gladstone Coach Andy Cretens also thought that third quarter was the difference-maker, as the Redettes outscored his Braves, 10-2, to erase a Gladstone halftime lead.

"When they went into that half-court trap, we went away from what we traditionally do in our man-to-man offense," Cretens said. "We were doing a great job in the first half. We got some great looks. But that trap took us out of our element and we allowed that to beat us, which at the varsity level, it shouldn't. But it's something to learn from."

Even after the dismal third quarter, Gladstone closed to within 37-35 with three minutes left on the clock. That's when Marquette's Zoe Smith knocked own a wide-open triple with 2:40 left on the clock to make it 40-35. There were no more points scored in the game.

"We had a good read, kicked it out, and you've got to make shots with some confidence and even if they don't go in early, it's nice that Zoe stepped up and made a big one there," Smith said.

"She's someone we know is a three-point shooter and we got lucky in the first half that she got a couple of good looks that she didn't knock down," Cretens said. "She got the one to go that mattered, so kudos to her. She hit it in a big moment, and sometimes, that's the hardest one to make. That was a big shot, and it put us down and we couldn't recover from that."

Gladstone had no players reach double figures in scoring. Chloe Hanson had eight points, while Veronia Hall and Lu Martinez both scored seven.

Claire VanGinhoven, by far the Braves' leading scorer all season long, was held to six points by the Marquette defense.

"Westwood did the same thing," Cretens said. "They absolutely denied her the ball and not let her get a single shot off, pretty much. She's just got to get ready for that."

Marquette improved to 5-6 on the season, and is 4-0 in the Great Northern Conference, with two wins each over both Escanaba and Gladstone. The Redettes still have four games remaining against Menominee and Kingsford in the conference.

Gladstone fell to 3-6 on the season, and is 1-3 in the GNC. The Braves will host Menominee in their next game Tuesday, Jan. 25, and will battle Manistique two days later.