MARQUETTE — The Escanaba girls found the range from beyond the arc late in the second quarter in a season-opening 65-50 basketball victory over the Marquette Redettes here Tuesday night

Esky trailed 22-19 with three minutes left in the second before Saylor Henderson tied the score on a 3-point shot from the left wing.

The Eskymos finished the second with 14-2 run for a 37-24 halftime advantage in this Great Northern Conference match-up.

“That gave us a lot of momentum,” Esky coach Tracy Hudson said after coaching the girls’ varsity team for the first time in 17 years. “Saylor kind of started us off and we hit some 3-point shots on out-of-bounds plays. The girls did a great job in transition and got some points off turnovers, and our full-court pressure caused them to make some mistakes. Only, we didn’t handle the ball as well as we liked in the end.”

The Eskymos committed 29 turnovers, but shined from the free throw line by hitting 18-of-20.

“You’ve got to hit your free throws on the road and the girls did that,” said Hudson. “They hurt us with some out-of-bounds and inside plays in the end. We need to keep our turnovers down. Sometimes I think we got a little too aggressive, although we learned a lot.

Kiera Maki led the Eskymos with 19 points. Mari Bink added 17 points and Morgan Maki collected five steals. Megan McPhee led the Redettes with 16.

“Morgan was probably our most active defender,” said Hudson.

Esky resumes in the McBain Invitational tournament, facing Gaylord St. Mary Friday at 6 p.m. McBain hosts New Lothrup in the nightcap. The tourney resumes Saturday.

C.J. Barron earned his first coaching victory as the Esky jayvees won 49-27 and Darren Landis also got his first win in Esky’s 44-24 triumph in the freshman game.

Escanaba 16 21 12 17 — 65

Marquette 16 8 11 15 — 50

Escanaba — Henderson 5, K. Maki 19, Bink 17, Stahlboerger 2, Salo 9, M. Maki 2, LaMarche 6, Chaillier 5. FT: 18-20; 3-point field goals: F: 14; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: K. Maki 3, Bink, Salo, Chaillier, Henderson.

Marquette — Ott 7, Logan 5, Brazeau 3, Lingle 8, Emblad 2, Anderson 7, McPhee 16. FT: 6-9; F: 16; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goal: Logan.