GWINN — Hot on the heels of signing her national letter of intent to play at Finlandia University next year, Claire van Ginhoven anchored her Gladstone Braves with a career-high 38 points to help defeat the Gwinn Modeltowners 60-42 Tuesday night in the Braves season opener in Gwinn.

“It was a great first game for us,” said Gladstone coach Andy Cretens. “I’m very, very, pleased and somewhat surprised with the way our girls played. … Some of the stuff we worked on in practice, it just didn’t seem we had that grit, toughness and energy we needed.

But, our girls really turned it on tonight, and they did a lot of things I thought were things we were going to struggle with. I’m very pleased with what we did.”

Van Ginhoven’s career-high 38 points was not the only high point for the senior in the season opener. In all 17 trips to the line, van Ginhoven sank every ball to go 100 percent on free throws and break the Gladstone school record previously held by four players — Brianne Weber, Michelle Bolek, Patti Trotter and Leigha Woelffer — at 15.

Cretens, who noted his confidence in van Ginhoven after her signing on Monday, hopes the record-breaking and personal best night can help her see just what she is capable of on the court.

“We had a conversation on the way back (to Gladstone),” he said. “I said, ‘(Finlandia) is always going to want you no matter what. Wait until the end of the year, and they’re still going to want you. You can go there no matter what. You don’t understand how good you are and how good you can be.'”

Cretens added that the night, as a whole, was a good one for the entire Braves program as they were able to utilize several JV players with the fifth quarter rule. He also mentioned Chloe Hanson’s defensive play as a standout performance.

The Braves will host Negaunne Friday night in Gladstone.

Gladstone 21 15 14 10 — 60

Gwinn 10 8 11 13 — 42

Gladstone — van Ginhoven 38, Hanson 6, Martinez 6, Wetthuhn 4, Bergeron 3, Hall 3; FT: 25-32; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: van Ginhoven 3, Martinez, Hanson.

Gwinn — Pleaugh 21, Hardy 7, Anderson 6, Paquin 4, Kerry 2, Spencer 2; FT: 10-25: Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: Pleaugh 2.