Gladstone senior Addie Trombley (middle) leads the Gladstone girls basketball team to the floor before its game against Kingsford on Dec. 12, 2023 at Gladstone High School.

GLADSTONE –After a season opening loss to Ishpemimg last week, Gladstone girls basketball aimed to bounce back from the poor shooting performance in its season opener.

The Braves did just that, using a 27-0 run for a 57-25 win over Kingsford.

“We had a lot of girls get extra reps (shooting) this weekend,” Gladstone coach Andy Cretens said. “Something that we talked about is that we need to be able to shoot the ball. Early in the season we can’t shoot a lot at practice. There’s so much to cover in practice in a short amount of time. So a lot of girls got extra reps this weekend. I think that that helped a lot.”

After exploding to a 6-0 lead thanks to a 3-pointer, jumper and free throw from sophomore Lillie Johnson, the Flivvers bounced back.

A layup from senior Alaina Kowalski ended the scoring silence. A trio of 3-pointers, including a pair from freshman Alyvia Kowalski, highlighted an 11-3 run for an 11-9 visitors lead.

Johnson connected with a jump shot to tie the game at 11. But the routine jumper served as the initial tremor for the upcoming avalanche which Kingsford was not prepared for.

Sophomore Addy Blowers closed out the first quarter with a free throw to give Gladstone a 12-11 lead.

A layup from junior Mayce Hanson pushed the lead to 14-11. A 3-pointer by freshman Eva Pankonien opened it to 17-11.

Gladstone didn’t ease up.

Hansen nailed a pair from the charity stripe. Johnson crossed over, got separation from her defender, fired from downtown and connected for a triple.

Junior Tia Schone connected with two free throws. Johnson buried a layup. Hansen also connected from inside the paint.

As the buzzer sounded for halftime the damage was done. Gladstone’s 20-0 run and 17-0 performance in the second quarter gave it a 29-11 lead at the break.

“I’m really happy with where our defense is at,” Cretens said. “We showed tonight that we can defend if we want to. The girls played extremely hard. They’re very happy where we’re at defensively.”

The Braves kept moving forward to start the second half. With a corner 3-pointer from Johnson and layups from Blowers and Junior Alexa Wetthuhn the lead grew to 36-11, forcing a Flivvers timeout.

In the end, it was a 27-0 Braves run that left the Flivvers’ hopes of winning wrecked.

“We have a tendency that when we stop scoring, we stop playing,” Kingsford coach Jon Lorenzoni said. “That’s got to get better. It’s a good group of kids. They’re a nice group of kids. They’re gonna keep working.”

Johnson led all scorers with 21 points. Blowers tallied 11 points. Hanson added nine points. Pankonien finished with seven points. Schone finished with six points. Wetthuhn totaled two points.

“That makes a good team,” Cretens said of the Braves’ scoring distribution on Tuesday. “We’re not going to be good if it’s just Lille (Johnson) scoring the basketball. For us to be good we have to have a main scorer like Lillie (Johnson), and then there’s got to be three or four other girls that are pitching in. I think we did that tonight. It shows that we’re much harder to guard. Hopefully that trend continues.”

Senior Addie Trembley finished with one point, but exited the game in the second quarter due to a lower body injury.

Alaina Kowalski led the Flivvers with eight points. Alyvia Kowalski and Cassie Olson added six points each. Anna Bortolini finished with three points. Addisyn Kriegl earned two points.

The Braves trip to face Iron Mountain at 7:15 p.m. Thursday. Kingsford plays at Menominee Friday.