RIVALRY RENEWED: Eskymo Girls Outlast Braves

Click the thumbnails to see photos and videos, and to hear comments from Keira Maki, Lillie Johnson, Esky Coach Tracy Hudson, and Braves Coach Andy Cretens.

ESCANABA---The Escanaba High School girls basketball team built a 16-point lead and held on to beat the Gladstone Braves, 63-58, Monday night in Escanaba. Keira Maki scored 28 points to lead the Braves, while Lillie Johnson poured in 29 for Gladstone.

"It feels good to get another rivalry win," Maki said. "Last home game of the season, so ot felt good to get that W. We were able to get some deflections and get some steals. You've just got to keep your head up. You've got to box out. Things we've been working on all year, and that's what we have to keep working on."

"I don't want to be that coach where you're 7-0 (in the Great Northern Conference) and 16-1 (overall), and you don't feel good about it," Escanaba Coach Tracy Hudson said. "But I know that we can play a lot better defense. We can rebound a lot better. We've just got to be a lot more disciplined in our offense, moving the ball. But, we'll take it."

For the Braves, it was another case of "what might have been". Their record is just 6-13 on the season, and they did not win a GNC game. But nine of their losses have come by seven poimts or less, and they've all come against some of the best teams in the Upper Peninsula.

"You feel good because we had a close game with one of the best teams in the U.P., maybe the best team in the U.P. right now," Gladstone Coach Andy Cretens said. "But at the same time, we made so many mistakes. So, we felt like we had an opportunity to beat them. So it's kind of tough, bittersweet. It's something to feel good about, but we feel like we could've easily got them here today."

Escanaba, which beat Gladstone by 30 points (74-44) when they last met in late December, was in control of this game all night. But they never could put the Braves away. One of the main reasons for that was the play of Johnson, who, as a freshman, has burst onto the scene as one of the top players in the Upper Peninsula. She tied her career high of 29 points.

"I think we clould have moved the ball better, and shot it a little more, but I think we did pretty good other than that," Johnson said. "We tried to work more as a team and passed the ball around."

It was a 20-11 Eskymo lead after one quarter, 39-28 at the half, and 52-38 at the end of the third quarter. When Escanaba scored the first basket of the fourth quarter, it was a 54-38 game.

The Braves got back in it, though. Lu Martinez banked in a triple to start the rally, then Johnson got a steal and a driving lay-up in the other direction to make ot 54-43. Addy Blowers knocked down a triple and a long two-point basket, Martinez had another basket, and Johnson hit a short jumper in the lane. All of a sudden, Gladstone was within three points at 61-58.

There were still 23 seconds left, but the Braves could not get a defensive steal, and took way too long to commit a foul. With 9.1 seconds left, they fouled Maki, and she sank both free throws to effectively end the game. A desperation shot (again after too much time elapsed) was blocked, and Escanaba had survived in its final home game to improve to 16-1 on the season.

Johnson's 29 points was her second time reaching that plateau this season.

"The things that she does is truly impressive," Cretens said. "She's just got that length, instincts, and she's got a good skill set, and she can shoot the ball. She put in a lot of time this summer to work on her shot, because prior to this summer, she couldn't shoot from the outside at all. We fixed a couple of little things and now she's got a lot of confidence."

What did Johnson think about her performance?

"More driving than shooting from farther out," she said. "I kind of missed a couple in the beginning, but I kind of got it going at the end."

So did Maki, who also also grabbed ten rebounds to pick up her sixth double-double of the season.

"Just coming to the basket and seeing that they were over-playing me," Maki said. "I need to work on my three's, but we'll get there."

"She does a great job of attacking the basket," Hudson said. "She hurt Gladstone in transition. She's got a motor. She goes at it. And she hit some key free throws down the stretch. She's just a clutch player."

Besides Maki's 28 points, Mari Bink scored 15 and Grayson LaMarche added seven points.

Gladstone, besides Johnson's 29 points, got 13 points from Tia Schone. Blowers and Martinez both contributed eight points.

Gladstone travels to Gwinn Thursday night to face the 5-11 Model Towmers, a team the Braves lost to by three points in the season opener back in November.

"Our girls want some redemption, because we feel like we gave one away," Cretens said. "The girls are excited to try to get a couple of wins going into the playoffs."

The Braves-Model Towners game will be broadcast live on FM-93.5/AM-600 and on-line at www.rrnsports.com.

Escanaba, meanwhile, has a big game Tuesday night in Houghton against the 15-3 Gremlins, who lost to Calumet, 51-34, Monday night.

"We just want to go up there and play a great game tomorrow night," Hudson said. "I think if we play the defense, and rebound the way we can, and share the ball, there's no reason we can't win. We believe every time we step on the court that we can win."