Brian Bell | Marinette EagleHerald Gladstone’s Ahna Larson shoots as Menominee’s Lauren Caley-Nelson (left) and Jaida Lesperance (center) defend during Thursday’s game at Menominee.

MENOMINEE — The Menominee girls basketball team burst out of the gates to a 17-4 lead after the first quarter and never let off the gas pedal to keep its perfect season alive with a 66-37 rout of Great Northern Conference rival Gladstone on Thursday night.

The Maroons (15-0 overall, 5-0 GNC) stuck with what has been successful for them so far this season by applying full-court pressure and making life difficult on Gladstone’s ball handlers. In the early going, Gladstone’s Maddie Ahlgren was able to break the Maroons’ press but once she got near the lane Menominee would swarm the ball, either forcing a turnover that led to an easy basket or forcing the Braves to take a contested shot in the paint.

“We didn’t capitalize on the opportunities that (Menominee) gave us by applying that pressure,” Gladstone coach Andy Cretens said. “Maddie did a good job of breaking that press and drawing more defenders over to her, but we didn’t play off the ball well and nobody found an open spot. They gambled and put pressure on us and we didn’t make them pay for it. That was the biggest thing in the game was the way we started because that got them going.”

Menominee cashed in on three 3-pointers in the first quarter — two from Josie Hofer and one from Kennedy Olson — to help build its first quarter lead.

Rylee Doyle traded a basket with Gladstone’s 6-foot-3 post player, Megan Crow, to start the second quarter but another triple from Olson followed by a pair of free throws from Jenna Nolde gave Menominee a 24-6 advantage. After both teams traded free throws for the next few minutes, Crow reached over the top of a Menominee player for an offensive rebound and easy basket to cut the deficit to 28-12, but a layup and 3-pointer from Nolde followed by a pull up jumper from Erin Barrette gave Menominee a 35-12 halftime lead.

Menominee held Gladstone (5-9, 1-5 GNC) to 4-of-20 (20 percent) from the field in the first half while the Maroons cashed in on 12-28 (42 percent) attempts while also going 5-8 (62 percent) from 3-point range. Coming in to the game Menominee knew Crow could do damage on the interior, but the Maroons fronted her in the post and had excellent back-side help defense so whenever Crow did catch it inside she wouldn’t get a good look at the rim.

“Our girls have really bought in to what we work on everyday defensively. We help each other out well, we cut off gaps and we make it very difficult for the other team to get in to the paint,” Menominee coach Lucas Chouinard said. “Crow is 6-4 and she’s going to score her points if you’re not right in her face and that’s something we practiced a lot all year and especially heading into this game. The girls did a great job, we had great team defense and that really helps to fuel our offense.”

Hofer dropped in her third 3-pointer of the game in as many attempt to kick off the second half and Emma Anderson scored in the post and after a bucket from Gladstone’s Marnnea LaFave, Barrette kept an offensive rebound alive, floated to the corner and drilled a 3-pointer to give Menominee a 43-14 lead.

Taelor Zeise halted the Maroons’ run by cashing a 3-pointer from the wing but Anderson answered with a triple of her own for Menominee.

After Anderson’s 3-pointer, Menominee’s offense got a little quiet and Gladstone ended the quarter on an 11-3 run highlighted by seven more points from Zeise, but the Maroons’ 49-28 lead was insurmountable.

Hofer made two technical foul shots after Gladstone’s coach was assessed a technical early on in the fourth quarter, and even with all of the starters on the bench Menominee was still able to extend its lead. The Maroons outscored Gladstone 17-9 in the final frame, highlighted by 3-pointers from Lauren Caley-Nelson and Jaida Lesperance.

For the game, Menominee shot 41 percent (22-53) from the field, 52 percent (11-21) from 3-point range, tallied 14 assists and had 10 out of 11 players get in the scorebook to show the unselfishness of the team.

“We were very unselfish offensively,” Chouinard said. “We spread the ball around, had nice dribble penetration and then we’d hit the open girl, and I’m very proud of them tonight for taking the open shots we had. We struggled with trying to be a little too unselfish lately but it was nice to see us not only taking them, but making them tonight.”

Anderson and Hofer led a balanced attack for the Maroons with 11 points each and Anderson added five rebounds and three assists while Hofer grabbed three boards and had three dimes as well. Barrette also scored in double-figures for the Maroons with 10 points and totaled four rebounds and four steals and Nolde just missed out on double-digits with nine points.

For the Braves, Zeise led the way with 10 points (all in third quarter) and Crow added eight points and six rebounds.

Gladstone has a lot of basketball left to be played and that will start with Ishpeming and Gwinn on the road on Tuesday and Thursday, and Cretens is hoping his team can get the continuity they need in order to end the season the way they want to.

“We’ve been dealing with a lot of injuries and sickness and since day one, we haven’t had the same group on the floor in any given night,” he said. “We just need to get some more continuity, keep working hard and outwork every other team the next three weeks so we can make a run in the playoffs.”

The Maroons are feeling good after winning both regular season meetings against Gladstone, especially because the Braves narrowly defeated Menominee on its home floor last season.

Even though they are feeling good, Menominee knows now is not the time to get complacent especially with Crandon coming to town on Tuesday. The Maroons snuck out of Crandon last year with a three-point victory, and Chouinard expects it to be another great game Tuesday night.

In JV action, Menominee’s Madison Derusha drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key to send the game in to overtime and hit two free throws with under a minute remaining to ice the game and help the Maroons to a 44-40 victory. Makayla Sinks led Menominee with 11 and Derusha added nine. Veronica Hall, Kenzingtin Pepin and Samara Sanville had seven each to lead Gladstone.

Gladstone — Zeise 9, Crow 8, LaFave 6, Larson 5, Ahlgren 4, Robinson 4. FT: 12-17.

Menominee — Hofer 11, Anderson 11, Barrette 10, Nolde 9, Doyle 7, Olson 6, Caley-Nelson 5, Lesperance 3, Nerat 2, Wellner 2. FT: 11-14.