Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Escanaba’s Carney Salo (left) fights for a rebound against Marquette’s Zoe Smith (right) Wednesday at Escanaba.

ESCANABA — The Escanaba girls basketball team poured it on in the third quarter to overwhelm Marquette 53-34 in a Great Northern Conference victory Wednesday at Escanaba.

At the start of the third, the Eskymos (6-4, 4-2 GNC) led by 11 (25-14), but it wasn’t enough for them to feel secure.

“I was nervous,” Esky coach Mike Beveridge said. “(Kelly O’Connell, the JV coach) said to me that they’ve (Marquette) only scored five points. I said that it didn’t feel like it. I just felt that they (Marquette) and Ben (Smith) do such a good job, and I’m like: ‘It’s not enough.’

“My halftime speech was just that we weren’t up enough. It wasn’t enough, and we had to bury them right away. I told them to push it, push it, push it, and I felt our defense did that.”

The Eskymos earned the first points of the third with a bucket from Maddy Monkevich 32 seconds in to kick off a 13-1 run that extended through the first half of the quarter — nine of which were from Nicole Kamin who finished as Esky’s leading scorer with 26 points — to lead 38-15.

“We had a rough third quarter,” Redettes’ coach Ben Smith said. “We had our chances to make a few plays. We didn’t grab the ball on the defensive end. They finished plays off of offensive rebounds, and then, we didn’t convert in some situations.

“Even (earlier), I think we had about four or five plays where we made really good defensive plays and had layups and other opportunities that we just didn’t finish.”

Marquette’s (2-9, 2-4 GNC) Maria Millado earned its only basket of the quarter with 3:43 left on a fast break layup but missed the ensuing free throw after being fouled on the way up.

Just over 30 seconds later, the Redettes’ Averie Kelly — who led the team with 10 points — knocked two down from the charity stripe to cut their deficit to 38-19 and score the last Marquette points of the quarter.

“We just put in that full-court press, and it’s our second night of running it,” Beveridge said. “We ran it last night at Kingsford, so we’re still learning it as far as going live and going against good teams with it. I was very pleased with tonight’s effort on it, and it got exactly what we wanted. Lots of turnovers and fast breaks.”

With just over two minutes left in the third, Esky’s Mari Bink sank two freebies to kick off 10 unanswered points that allowed the Eskymos to lead 48-19 entering the fourth and seal the game despite Marquette outscoring them 15-5 in the final quarter.

“When things aren’t going your way, you’ve got to try and take advantage of every chance you get against good teams,” Smith said.

Beveridge also complimented his team on its effort.

“I just thought it was a good team effort for the five girls on the floor,” he said. “All of them played hard even when they were coming off the bench, and that’s what I stress when you get on the floor.

“You’re going to play hard, and I thought anytime, anywhere, all five girls were playing hard and hustling.”

Escanaba visits Gladstone Saturday, and Marquette travels to Menominee Friday.

Marquette 7 7 5 15 — 34

Escanaba 14 11 23 5 — 53

Marquette — Kelly 10, Millado 7, Young 6, Jezewski 4, Michelin 3, Puskala 2, Paternoster 1, Smith 1; F: 12: Fouled out: none; FT: 13-22; 3-point field goals: Young 2, Millado 1.

Escanaba — Kamin 26, Bink 9, Monkevich 9, Salo 8, Lancour 1; F: 20; Fouled out: none; FT: 10-13; 3-point field goals: Kamin 2, Salo 2, Monkevich 1.