Marquette Girls Make Late Push To Top Gladstone

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GLADSTONE---Growing pains.

That's how to best describe the first few games of this girls basketball season for the Gladstone Braves. They have showed the ability to play with anybody, making smart defensive plays and passing the ball effectively. But they have also had the problem of too many turnovers, and making too few shots at the free throw line.

Such is life for a varsity basketball team that is literally getting on-the-job training. The Braves players who won the Class B regional schampionship in each of the last two seasons are all gone, except for Alison Austin.

And Gladstone Coach Karl Dollhopf keeps preaching the same message: be patient, get better, and by the end of the season, we'll be there. Dollhopf saw a lot of positives from his girls Tuesday night against the Marquette Redettes, but also saw areas where improvement is needed as Marquette squeaked out a 45-37 win.

"I'm real optimistic about the fact that we had a chance to win in the fourth quarter," Dollhopf said. "That's always a positive against Marquette. Yeah, we turned the ball over too much. But you know what? We caused some turnovers, too. I think that there is all kinds of up-side to it. I mean, it's a three-month season. Keep things in perspective."

Gladstone's Tinner Sharon has her free throw get stuck.

Indeed, the game was filled with turnovers, but not only by the young Braves, but also by the Redettes, who had five seniors in the line-up.

Still, Gladstone trailed just 33-32 with four minutes left in the game before the Redette press caused several key turnovers.

With a 35-32 lead, Marquette got a three-pointer from Hunter Viitala to take a six-point lead.

Alison Austin responded with a basket to cut it to 38-34, but Destiny Beckwith swished a wide-open three-pointer moments later to pretty much put the game on ice.

"We have a young group, so we're teaching every minute to try to get better," Dollhopf said. "We had opportunities at the foul line, and we didn't cash in. What happens is, is when you're young, you get exhausted, and then you start breaking down and a lot of times, they don't know to react.

"That's, again, an opportunity for us to teach them."

Marquette (1-2) led, 20-17, at halftime, as Viitala scored 14 of her team's 20 first-half points. And in the second half, when Gladstone started paying more defensive attention to Viitala, Lydia Kurin stepped up. She scored all 12 of her points in the second half.

Gladstone's Callie Jensen scores on a jump shot.

Gladstone's Callie Jensen had a strong game, especially on defense. She caused several Marquette turnovers, either by steals or by forcing bad passes. Jensen also led the Braves in scoring with eleven points.

"I thought our girls competed hard, and I'm happy with that," Dollhopf said. "Callie, we've been stressing with her to look at the rim and take opportunities to score. Don't play 'empty minutes'. Callie is coming along great. This is her first varsity experience."

Jess Beaudry also performed well for the Braves, as she absorbed quite a few hits that left her limping from time to time in the second half. She scored seven points.

"She missed most of volleyball with an injury, and we've been gradually bringing her back," Dollhopf said. "She's maybe 60, 70 percent right now?

"It's nice to see her play like this," the coach continued, "I was very impressed with the fact that she took a couple of charges. She's very talented. When we see her at 100 percent, she will make everyone better around her."

Gladstone (1-2) travels to Ishpeming Thursday night, and then will be on the road again the following Tuesday for a Great Northern Conference game in Kingsford.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box to see videos and pictures. Mike Dagenais photos and videos, except for the top photo, which was taken by Paul Gerard (GrandpaCamo). See his 631 photos HERE .

Also, click the thumbnail to listen to Dollhopf's post-game interview.

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

11/27	7:45 PM	at Negaunee Miners	45 - 56 (L)	0-1

11/30	7:15 PM	Gwinn Model Towners	43 - 37 (W)	1-1

12/4	7:15 PM	Marquette Redmen	37 - 45 (L)	1-2

12/6	7:15 PM	at Ishpeming Hematites	45 - 35 (W)	2-2

12/11	8:00 PM	at Kingsford Flivvers	44 - 51 (L)	2-3

12/18	7:15 PM	at Big Bay deNoc Black Bears	78 - 29 (W)	3-3

12/27	3:00 PM	Houghton Gremlins	50 - 52 (L)	3-4

1/4	7:15 PM	Escanaba Eskymos	35 - 33 (W)	4-4

1/11	7:30 PM	at Manistique Emeralds	52 - 33 (W)	5-4

1/15	7:20 PM	at Marquette Redmen	31 - 66 (L)	5-5

1/24	7:15 PM	Big Bay deNoc Black Bears	56 - 19 (W)	6-5

1/31	7:15 PM	Menominee Maroons	49 - 39 (W)	7-5

2/5	7:15 PM	Ishpeming Hematites	44 - 48 (L)	7-6

2/7	7:15 PM	Westwood Patriots	51 - 22 (W)	8-6

2/9	3:00 PM	at Menominee Maroons	49 - 47 (W)	9-6

2/12	7:30 PM	at Escanaba Eskymos	46 - 47 (L)	9-7

2/13	7:15 PM	Negaunee Miners	49 - 53 (L)	9-8

2/16	2:30 PM	at Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils	47 - 39 (W)	10-8

2/20	7:30 PM	Kingsford Flivvers	51 - 58 (L)	10-9

2/21	6:45 PM	at Iron Mountain Mountaineers	41 - 51 (L)	10-10

2/25	8:00 PM	at Menominee Maroons	46 - 47 (L)	10-11

2012-13 Upper Peninsula Girls Basketball Playoffs

Saturday March 16, 2013

Gladstone Loses Heartbreaker In District Semifinal

Monday February 25, 2013

Big Second Half Sends Kingsford Girls Past Braves

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Beaudry Scores 21 But Braves Lose To Negaunee

Wednesday February 13, 2013

Gladstone Uses Defense To Turn Back Menominee

Friday February 1, 2013

Gladstone On Cruise Control Against Big Bay deNoc

Thursday January 24, 2013

Houghton Rallies Past Gladstone On Buzzer-Beater

Friday December 28, 2012

Braves Slip Past Model Towners In Home Opener

Friday November 30, 2012