Todd Rose | Daily Press The Gladstone girls basketball team celebrates after an upset win against Escanaba Monday in Gladstone.

GLADSTONE — It all came down to the final minute in this rivalry contest between the Gladstone Braves and Escanaba Eskymos Monday night in Gladstone as the Braves pulled off the 56-52 upset win.

After a rough few weeks for the Braves (5-11), that included several heartbreaking losses and games that slipped from their grasp, the win was one the team ‘needed more than ever,’ said Gladstone coach Andy Cretens.

“It’s special,” Cretens said. “It’s something that we absolutely needed it. Anybody that coaches high school basketball knows it’s a long season, and you’re going to go through slumps — it’s going to happen for most teams.

‘We went through our slump and hit our bottom. The crazy thing is (Sunday) was our rock bottom. We had the worst practice of the year, which makes this more special because we had a heart-to-heart after practice and said we need to get this figured out.”

As the teams entered the final 60 seconds of play, the score sat even at 50 points. With seconds ticking by, the Braves got the ball into the hands of freshman Tia Schone with 34 seconds remaining. Schone pulled the trigger on a three that landed straight through the hoop to make it 53-50.

Fifteen seconds later — after stifling the Eskymos offense — the Braves earned possession on a jump ball forcing Escanaba to begin fouling to stop the clock.

Veronica Hall went to the line first for Gladstone hitting her first but missing the second to make it 54-50.

However, Escanaba answered with authority, finding Mari Bink down low immediately after inbounding the ball and only scrubbing roughly five seconds off the clock to bring it to nine seconds remaining with the score 54-52.

Again, the Eskymos were forced to foul to have a shot at the win. Again, it was the freshman Schone put under the microscope with all eyes set on her at the free throw line.

Like her lead earning three, both shots fell to push the score to 56-52 and just out of reach for the Eskymos with only seven seconds on the clock.

Claire van Ginhoven led the Braves through the first three quarters with 28 points. In the fourth, however, the Escanaba defense clamped down and held her to zero points. On the flip side, though, Schone, Hanson, Hall and Jamisyn Bergeron all stepped up for the Braves through the quarter making plays of their own.

“It was really cool to see Claire carrying us for the first three quarters and when they kind of face guarded her and didn’t allow her to catch it, for our girls to have the confidence to step up and make those plays like that was really cool to see,” Cretens said.

It was fitting that free throws put the game out of reach for Escanaba as Gladstone outperformed them at the line all night, which was arguably the difference-maker in the game. While Escanaba was 6-17 on free throws, the Braves were 18-24.

Cretens added that the job on defense by Jamisyn Bergeron and Chloe Hanson was also a big part of the win. Together, they held Keira Maki — one of Escanaba’s top-scoring players all year — to just five points.

“Jamisyn and Chloe, defensively, were unbelievable,” he said. “Between the two of them, they held Maki to five points and that’s got to be close to her season-low. Every time I look at her score, she’s scoring 20 plus points every single game. To hold her to five points, that’s got to be the play of the game right there.”

For the Eskymos, Mari Bink led the way in scoring with 16 points and three triples.

Kaitlyn Stalboerger had an impressive night as well as she got the Eskymos scoring started with back-to-back shots in the first quarter as well as several rebounds and second-chance shots through the rest of the game.

Stalboeger ended the night with 12 points.

Escanaba coach Mike Beveridge noted a difference of intensity between the rival teams as a big component of the night’s result.

“I just think it was the intensity. They played at a higher level of intensity, and they wanted it more. I really believe that was it,” Beveridge commented. “Not that my girls did not want to win. But, you can tell when you come out, they had the fire in their bellies, and we didn’t.

“I tried different combinations of kids, and it’s just one of those nights as a coach that drives you crazy because you can’t make the fire happen. All my girls tried, but it’s just one of those nights. I give them credit. They played hard for four quarters.”

Escanaba’s chances at victory, however, were not helped at all when Keira Maki left the game with an apparent leg injury with two and a half minutes left followed by Maddie Monkevich leaving with a dislocated finger in the waning seconds of the game.

Monkevich had seven points on the night while Maki had five, and both made their presence known on defense.

“They’re big in every game, and I need them in every game,” Beveridge said of the pair. “Monk’s finger dislocated. She’ll be fine, but it’s going to be sore for a few days. Keira’s knee, I’m not sure what happened there. But, losing two of your starters in the fourth quarter is tough, but the girls that came in off the bench did fine, too.”

Saylor Henderson added nine points for the Eskymos, including a nice three in the second quarter.

With the loss, Escanaba’s record moves to 9-6.

The Eskymos — who won the JV game 32-16 — return home for Parents/Senior Night in Escanaba on Thursday as they play Ishpeming.

Gladstone will remain at home for the remainder of this week as they host Iron Mountain on Thursday then Ishpeming on Saturday.

Escanaba 15 10 12 15 — 52

Gladstone 13 11 15 17 — 56

Escanaba — Bink 16, Stalboerger 12, Henderson 9, Monkevich 7, Maki 5, LaMarche 3; FT: 6-17; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: Bink 3, Monkevich, Maki, Henderson.

Gladstone — van Ginhoven 28, Hanson 8, Hall 8, Bergeron 5, Schone 5, Wetthuhn 2; FT: 18-24; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: van Ginhoven 4, Schone, Hall.