Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Gladstone’s Chloe Hanson (2) deflects a pass from Kingsford’s Allie LaVarnway (left) Tuesday in Gladstone.

By John Vrancic

For the Daily Press

GLADSTONE — There was a sense of urgency coming out of the halftime locker room for the Gladstone girls here Tuesday night.

The Braves, who trailed 25-20 at the intermission, rallied past the Kingsford Flivvers 53-42 in this Great Northern Conference opener.

“We had a good talk at halftime,” said Braves coach Andy Cretens. “We talked about the first three minutes of the third quarter being the most important part of the game. The girls came out of the locker room with a positive frame of mind and executed well. We were disappointed in the way we played in the first half. Although, they did a good job handling adversity. I couldn’t be more proud of the girls. They always play hard.”

Gladstone, which improved to 2-1 overall, scored the first five points in the third stanza and eventually took a 30-29 on a 21-foot jump shot from the right wing by senior guard Claire van Ginhoven.

“We ran an out-of-bounds play we use quite often,” said Cretens. “That gave us some momentum.”

The Braves extended their lead to 33-29 on a 21-foot jumper from the left wing by senior guard Chloe Hanson and made it a six-point cushion on a seven-foot jumper from the left baseline by van Ginhoven late in the third.

Gladstone gained a 38-29 advantage on van Ginhoven’s jumper from top of the key 19 seconds into the fourth frame and gained an insurmountable 48-34 cushion on a five-foot jumper by freshman guard Tia Schone with two minutes remaining.

“If we had more numbers, I would like to give Tia more quarters on varsity, and Jamisyn (Bergeron) came off the bench and did a nice job forcing turnovers, which took them out of their rhythm,” said Cretens. “The free throw line helped us a lot, and Claire’s accuracy from the line is a big part of our game. Only, we gave up too many rebounds. They got nine baskets off those, and that’s 18 points right there.”

Van Ginhoven, who led Gladstone with 26 points, sank 6-of-8 gifters in this contest and 34-of-37 this season. The Braves were 18-of-24 from the line.

The Braves led 15-8 after van Ginhoven drained a 20-foot jumper from the left wing early in the second.

Gladstone still led 20-15 following a pair of free throws by Bergeron at 5:17.

Kingsford (1-3 overall), however, closed the second quarter on a 10-0 run, gaining its five-point halftime cushion on an eight-foot set shot by junior Laura Bracket.

“We probably played well enough to put ourselves in a position to win,” said Kingsford coach Jon Lorenzoni. “We worked hard on our press, but I thought we left 12 points out there on layups alone. Although it was a good, competitive game.”

Bracket finished with 15 points, and senior Abby Terrian added 13 for the Flivvers.

“Laura made a lot of good hustle plays off the bench, and Erika (Malone) and Talia (Wallis) did a nice job making Claire work for her points,” said Lorenzoni.

The Braves committed 26 turnovers, and the Fiivvers had 23.

Gladstone, which also dropped the JV game 56-47, travels to Iron Mountain Thursday. Kingsford hosts Westwood Friday.

Kingsford 8 17 4 13 — 42

Gladstone 12 3 20 18 — 53

Kingsford — Terrian 13, Wallis 6, Bracket 15, DalSanto 2, Malone 4. FT: 7-19; F: 13; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: Terrian 3.

Gladstone — van Ginhoven 26, Hanson 9, Bergeron 6, Schone 5, Hall 3, Martinez 4. FT: 18-24; F: 13; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: van Ginhoven 3, Hanson, Bergeron.