Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Gladstone’s Taelor Zeise takes a shot against Menominee Tuesday at Gladstone.

GLADSTONE — The top-ranked Menominee girls basketball team remained undefeated after taking down the Gladstone Braves 50-30 for a road and Great Northern Conference win Tuesday.

It was a decisive first quarter for the Maroons (13-0, 3-0 GNC), who were first on the board with a layup from Jenna Nolde 37 seconds in. Shortly after, Makenzie Wellner converted a 3-point play to put the Maroons up 5-0.

The Braves (4-7, 1-4 GNC), playing without center Megan Crow for the third straight game, then scored their only points of the quarter on a jumper from Andie Balenger with 6:49 remaining in the first.

“(I think it was) our defensive intensity (that let us succeed in the first quarter),” Maroons coach Lucas Chouinard said. “We came out with the intensity we needed. It was an emphasis on being on the road and, with a conference game, coming out defensively the way we did. I was very proud of that. On the road, we definitely need to do that defensively, and our offense came right along.”

The Maroons ended the quarter on a 9-0 run to lead 14-2 entering the second.

“We got off to a slow start,” Braves coach Andy Cretens said. “That was one of our lowest energy games that we’ve had, and it’s kind of confusing as to why. We just have to make sure that won’t happen again. We’re going to forget about that one, and (try to move on).”

Gladstone matched the Maroons point for point in the second, trailing 23-14 with 10 seconds left. However, the Maroons erased most of that momentum with a last-second steal and score by Josie Hofer to put them ahead 25-14 at the half.

“We regressed with our intensity (in the second quarter),” Chouinard said. “We got a little too comfortable with where we were at. It’s a learning experience for us. When we’ve got a team down, we’ve just got to continue that intensity for the whole four quarters.”

Menominee re-established itself and corralled the Braves to cruise to victory in the second half.

“I thought we did a great job defensively,” Chouinard said. “Any time you can hold a team like Gladstone to 30 points you do a great job defensively. On the road, we definitely have to show that grittiness and that toughness. That’s those 50/50 balls that we were able to get a hold of tonight, which is what we needed, and we gained extra possessions that way. We were able to convert on the offensive end.”

Emma Anderson led the Maroons with 11 points and Erin Barrette followed with 10.

Gladstone was led by Maddie Ahlgren with nine points.

“We played some good defense and did some good things in spurts,” Cretens said. “We had a hard time being consistent. We gave them too many easy looks, and that didn’t let us get over the hump. We’d get a couple stops and then we’d give them something easy. That’s just a backbreaker. It really hurts and takes you down a level. That’s kind of the story of the night.”

Gladstone travels to Manistique Thursday. Menominee, which won the JV game 29-26, visits Marquette Friday.

Menominee 14 11 17 8 — 50

Gladstone 2 12 10 6 — 30

Menominee — Anderson 11, Barrette 10, Nolde 9, Wellner 6, Olson 6, Hofer 4, Wickstrom 2, Doyle 1, Nerat 1. F: 13; Fouled out: none; FT: 9-13; 3-point field goal: Anderson.

Gladstone — Ahlgren 9, Balenger 8, Hanson 6, Torie Zeise 4, Taelor Zeise 3. F: 11; Fouled out: none; FT: 7-9; 3-point field goal: Taelor Zeise.