Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Escanaba’s Nicole Kamin (4) drives against Gladstone’s Megan Crow (42) Monday at Escanaba.

ESCANABA — It was the chance for the Gladstone girls basketball team to get revenge on their Escanaba rivals for the district championship loss last season, but the Braves fell short despite a strong rally at the end of the fourth.

The Eskymos held off the thrashing Braves and edged their cross-town rival 64-63 Monday at Escanaba.

“We know it’s always going to be close, and it’s always going to be a big game with these guys (Gladstone),” Esky coach Mike Beveridge said. “Neither team quit.”

To add to Escanaba’s celebration, Nicole Kamin — who earned nearly half of the team’s points with 30 — broke the 1,000-point barrier for her high school career to the cheers of the crowd and fellow players.

“It feels good,” Kami said. “Especially in a big one against Gladstone. That always feels nice. It got a little crazy at the end, but we were able to pull it together. I have to thank my teammates for that (30 points) because they helped me get there, and I can’t just do it by myself. I’m just really excited.”

With 21.5 seconds left in the fourth, Kamin knocked down two from the charity stripe to add to the Esky (2-1) cushion, 64-57.

“It never gets boring because she is so special,” Beveridge said. “She can get rebounds. She can block shots. She can drive. She can shoot 3’s, and she really is a true all-around basketball player. You know, she’s going on to the next level for a reason.”

Another seven seconds elapsed as the Braves found a position, and Claire Van Ginhoven knocked down a triple to reduce their deficit to 64-60. Then, the Braves almost immediately stopped the clock at 13.3 with a timeout.

“That was just on the fly something that we practiced yesterday,” Braves coach Andy Cretens said. “We adjusted really, really well and executed. We executed on three big moments down the stretch.”

This time, Gladstone cut down that triple time to 2.3 seconds as Megan Crow — who finished with 34 points — sank a trey of her own to move within a single point of the Eskymos.

On the Escanaba throw-in with 5.2 seconds left, the ball shot out of bounds and gave it back to the Braves.

Gladstone (1-1) managed to get it to Crow, but a collision threw off her pass and time expired before either team regained control.

Entering the fourth quarter, the Eskymos trailed 48-47 after being outscored in the third 17-11.

Esky was only on the back foot for a moment as Carney Salo hit a triple, Kamin drove to the basket for a breakaway layup and Maddy Monkevich hit another 3 to take the lead 55-48 in the first minute and a half of the fourth.

“We definitely had the energy there, and I think we had them flat on their backs,” Beveridge said. “They had a couple of rolls, and they kind of came back.”

After a Braves’ timeout to collect themselves, Crow added four in the middle to make it 55-52, but Esky earned five, including another trey from Salo, to stay ahead.

Crow came through again, being solely responsible for the 5-2 run that inched the Braves closer and gave them a chance at the end of the quarter.

“They never quit,” Beveridge said. “My girls hung in there, and we found a way to win. It’s all you can ask for to come out with the ‘W’. I was proud of them.”

Following Crow, Van Ginhoven added 21 points for the Braves.

“It’s definitely a tough pill to swallow because we were right there, and we did a lot of good things today,” Cretens said. “We made a lot of a lot of mistakes that really bit us at the end, but we showed today what we can do. If we execute a little bit better, and we eliminate those silly mistakes that we sometimes make (we’ll be a lot better off).

“The atmosphere in the locker room was that we were a little disappointed, but at the same time, we’re pretty optimistic because we feel good about what we showed with the few practice that we’ve had. We’ve come a long ways, and we’re improving every day.”

Escanaba visits Ishpeming Thursday, and Gladstone travels to Gwinn Thursday.

Gladstone 20 11 17 15 — 63

Escanaba 21 15 11 17 — 64

Gladstone — Crow 34, Van Ginhoven 21, Trudeau 6, Hall 2; F: 15; Fouled out: Larson; FT: 20-28; 3-point field goals: Van Ginhoven 4, Crow 1.

Escanaba — Kamin 30, Salo 15, Monkevich 6, Barron 6, Bink 5, Hughes 2; F: 23; Fouled out: none; FT: 8-12; 3-point field goals: Salo 5, Monkevich 2, Bink 1.