The Braves had other plans and made a statement with a 42-33 upset over the Redettes in a Great Northern Conference matchup.

“It all starts at practice,” said Gladstone coach Andy Cretens. “I told them yesterday at the end of practice that these last three practices have been phenomenal. We’re at a point where we’re beginning to turn the page a little bit and our confidence is sky-high right now.”

The Redettes (9-2) scored the first four points but hit a cold spell after that as they shot 1-for-9 (11 percent) the rest of the quarter. Gladstone (5-5) took advantage and took a 9-6 lead into the second period.

“We have to come out ready to go,” said Marquette coach Ben Smith. “It’s hard to beat a team in their gym especially when you’re not shooting it very well. When you shoot 27 percent it’s not going to be very pretty and it definitely wasn’t.”

Avery Bundgaard | Daily Press Gladstone’s Andie Balenger (4) blows by Marquette’s Claudia Hale (left) and Chloe Hale (center) during the first half Tuesday at Gladstone.

The Braves caught fire in the second quarter as they shot 6-for-8 (75 percent) and led by as much as 13.

“We had three main keys for this game and really all three had to do with hustle,” said Cretens. “One was 50-50 balls. We needed to get those and I thought we got those and that’s what sparked us.”

The only positive for Marquette in the second quarter came at the end of the half when Sydney Kivi hit a buzzer beater heading into halftime down 23-13.

That gave the Redettes some momentum coming out of halftime as they stormed back and actually took a one-point lead late in the third quarter off of two free throws from Stasha Warchock. But Taylor Hunter hit a buzzer beater for Gladstone allowing it to take a 29-28 lead into the final period.

“We just started playing with a purpose,” said Smith. “Our hands were down and we were getting beat to loose balls in the first half. We were able to speed them up a little bit and they turned it over a few times. We forced a few and some of them bounced our way.”

Gladstone responded well as it started the fourth quarter on a 6-0 run to establish a good lead.

Claudia Hale hit a 3-pointer for Marquette to cut the deficit to a manageable four-point game with just over two minutes left.

Gladstone’s Taelor Zeise answered with a big 3-pointer with 1:45 left to stretch the lead to seven and put the game out of reach.

“It was just about our girls holding their ground,” said Cretens. “We knew at some point Marquette was going to go on a run. That’s two games in a row now that our girls stood their ground when the other team started to make a run. Our girls stepped up and held their composure and stopped the runs.”

The win didn’t come without a cost for the Braves as Hunter went down with 20 seconds left in the game and had to be helped off the court.

“She’s got some pain in the back of her knee,” said Cretens. “But obviously we’re going to have to do a little bit more and see how she feels tomorrow. She’s in a lot of pain so hopefully we get some good news from that.”

Gladstone had pretty balanced scoring as it saw three players score a team-high 11 points including Zeise, Megan Crow and Kaitlyn Hardwick.

Kivi led the Redettes in scoring with 10 followed by Avery Ledy with seven.

Gladstone will host Menominee next Tuesday for another GNC matchup.

The summary:

Marquette 6 7 15 5 — 33

Gladstone 9 14 6 13 — 42

Marquette — Ch. Hale 5, Cl. Hale 5, Ledy 7, Kivi 10, Warchock 6; FT: 3-7; F: 11; Fouled out: none; 3-point field goals: Cl. Hale 1, Ledy 1.

Gladstone — Balenger 4, Zeise 11, Hardwick 11, Hunter 5, Crow 11; FT: 2-4; F: 9; Fouled out: none; 3-point field goals: Zeise 3, Hardwick 1.