Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, and to hear post-game comments from Lillie Johnson, Eva Pankonien, and Braves Coach Andy Cretens.

SAULT STE. MARIE---The Gladstone Braves rolled past the Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils in a Division Two girls basketball regional semifinal Monday night, 68-36, in Sault Ste. Marie. Lillie Johnson led the way again for Gladstone, scoring 31 points to add to her total as the school's all-time leading scorer.

Johnson now has scored 1,544 points in her career, and she's only a junior. As usual, Johnson deflected the praise to her teammates.

“We've just got to continue playing our game, and not rush it, and take our time,” Johnson said. “When we do that, we can do it, we can get through it with our offense, and it ends up with us scoring, and that's good. It's a great feeling being able to rely on your teammates. They showed that I can believe in them tonight, for sure.”

Those teammates included Eva Pankonian, who knocked down four triples and scored 16 points. She says that the girls needed to pick it up in the second half after a sloppy start that saw the Braves leading, 33-20, at halftime, but not really getting into a flow.

“Just the silly stuff like we were turning the ball over,” Pankonien said. “Silly things on defense, like we need to hedge the ball screens more. We cleaned it up, and it looked a lot better in the second half.”

Gladstone outscored the Blue Devils, 25-7, in the third quarter, as they found a way to deal with the multiple changes in defense employed by Soo Coach Pat Bennin.

“For the little we went over it, the executed extremely well,” Braves Coach Andy Cretens said. “Their confidence is big right now, and their focus is huge, because it's tough to do. For them to just take it and run with it, that shows their focus and how much they want it.”

Gladstone improved to 23-2 on the season, while the Blue Devils finished at 17-6. Next up for the Braves: a match-up with the Fremont Packers from the Muskegon area, at a neutral site in Houghton Lake. The Packers are also 23-2 after dusting off Clare in their semifinal, 67-43, Monday night in Lower Michigan.

“They're pretty good,” Cretens said. “We watched a tidbit of film but we didn't want to get ahead of ourselves. We know that they're athletic. They're fast. They get up in your face and press you the entire time. We've got to prepare a little bit for that, and get ready.”

The girls, though, are thrilled to have made it this far.

“It's really exciting,” Pankonien said. “I haven't been in this position. Last year, we lost in the first game of the post-season. That was a bummer. But it's really exciting. Cretens hasn't seen this in a long time, and this program hasn't seen it in a long time.”

Wednesday's championship game will be broadcast live from Houghton Lake on FM-93.5, AM-600, and on-line at www.rrnsports.com. Tip-off is 7:00.