Trending
MARQUETTE -- Junior guard Aspen Michelin found the basket early and often, going off for 23 points to help Marquette roll to a 63-31 victory over Gladstone in a high school girls basketball game at Barb Crill Gymnasium here Tuesday night.
Senior forward Avery Ledy and Sydney Kivi also scored in double digits, with Ledy getting 13 and Kivi 11 for the Redettes (8-2).
Redettes coach Ben Smith credited a strong defensive outing against Gladstone's best player, 6-foot-3 sophomore center Megan Crow.
"We had a really good team effort," he said. "Defensively we did a great job on Megan Crow. She's an outstanding player, she's going to score and change things defensively. I thought Sydney Kivi, Madison Carter and Sofia van den Ende did a good job as the primary defenders, but everyone else chipped in as well.
"We were also able to turn some of those stops into opportunities offensively, which was good because you don't always want to play against a set defense every trip (down court) if you can help it."
Smith also credited Michelin for a good night offensively.
"She was more aggressive tonight, which we've been talking about all season. When she gets to good spots, she can make a play for herself, which I thought she did a good job of, or if she draws attention, dump it off."
Michelin credited her teammates for giving her opportunities.
"While I did have a few shots to start off, it was a product of ball movement and opportunities that were created by my teammates," she said. "It wasn't just myself that set the tempo, it was my whole team."
For the Braves, it simply wasn't their night, according to head coach Andy Cretens.
"We did some good things early on and got some open looks, but we didn't make some shots and kind of felt sorry for ourselves for not making them," he said. "We quit playing defense in transition.
"It's something we've talked about the last few days that Marquette likes to get out in transition, they like to go into the post and they like to hit the offensive glass.
"We had to stop those three things and we didn't. We've done a good job on the season executing our game plans and we just didn't do a good job of it (tonight)."
With Gladstone sitting at 1-7, Cretens said things will need to turn around quickly.
"We're at a point in the season where we can go one or two ways and we have to decide which way we want to go," he said. "After a conversation, it sounds like the girls really want it and they know they need to put in a little bit more work. We're positive we're going to get things fixed by the end of the season and going into the playoffs."
Michelin finished with six first-quarter points as MSHS took a 15-7 lead entering the second.
She opened the second quarter with a layup and foul, sinking the free throw for a 3-point play and quickly increasing Marquette's lead to 11 points. Gladstone sophomore forward Marnnea LaFave answered that call with a basket of her own, before Marquette went on an eight-point run to go up 26-9.
Braves guard Alaina Trudeau ended the run with a corner triple with 4:48 to play in the half, but Marquette led 31-14 at the break.
Ledy opened the third with a 3-pointer of her own, and the Redettes rolled from there.
Gladstone was led by Crow with nine points while junior guard Andie Balenger added eight.
Marquette picked up 37 rebounds, with Ledy grabbing seven.
Michelin said she's happy to be having success at the midseason mark, but she knows her team can play that way come tournament time as well.
Gladstone goes to Menominee (8-2) on Tuesday.
Marquette's JVs won 61-9.
Gladstone 7 7 10 7 -- 31
Marquette 15 16 15 17 -- 63 Gladstone -- Torie Zeise 2, Balenger 8, Ahlgren 3, LaFave 4, Trudeau 5, Crow 9. FT: 4-11.
Marquette -- Ketzenberger 2, Elmblad 2, Michelin 23, Carter 5, Ledy 13, Kivi 11, van den Ende 5, Talbacka 2. FT: 9-15.