“The Big Dog” Mitch Vosburg Daily Press Gladstone sophomore Lillie Johnson (middle) shoots from long range during the first half of a Great Northern Conference game against Escanaba on Feb. 12, 2024 at Gladstone High School.

GLADSTONE –A game against your arch-rival. A fundraiser for your mom’s battle with breast cancer. Locked face-to-face with one of the UP’s top players.

It’s the exact scenario Gladstone sophomore Lillie Johnson faced on Tuesday. How did she respond?

She earned yet another double-double, amassing 37 points and 18 rebounds in a 60-51 Great Northern Conference home win over Escanaba on Monday.

“It’s exciting. It’s my personal record,” Johnson said. “I’m disappointed because I didn’t get the school record, which is 41. I would’ve had it if I made my free throws.”

Johnson finished 15-of-19 from the floor, notching 18 points in the fourth quarter alone and 23 in the second half.

“I wasn’t sure how she was gonna be today with everything that’s going on with her family and this being a night for her mom and family,” Gladstone coach Andy Cretens said. “She looked out of sorts early on. We we’re trying to get her to be more aggressive, and she was just kind of mono tone and just kind of coasting in the first three quarters, even though she was still scoring. Then in the fourth quarter she just put (the game) away and did what she does.

“Offensively, she put us on her back and she ran away with it.”

With the Braves (10-6, 6-1 GNC) trailing the Eskymos (10-8, 4-2) 44-36 entering the fourth quarter, Johnson struck immediately with an and-1 opportunity. She missed the free throw to complete the 3-point play, but scored on a jump shot on the next possession. Then she drained a pair of free throws. The Eskymos coughed up the ball on their ensuing possession when junior Clara Braun couldn’t coral a pass which sailed out of bounds. Johnson connected in the paint, and with 6:33 to go the game was tied at 44. Then Johnson came up with a steal which turned into a transition layup.

The gym erupted into chaos, Gladstone led 46-44 on Johnson’s 10-0 solo run.

The Eskymos cut off the bleeding when Braun split a pair of free throws with 5:47 to go. Both teams traded free throws to maintain a one-point nail biting lead for the Braves with 5:22 remaining.

Sophomore Addy Blowers connected with a runner for a 49-46 advantage with 5:10 to go. Esky junior McKenzie Engebretson went to work in the paint on the ensuing possession, drawing a foul and earning a trip to the free throw line. She missed both shots with 4:23 to go. 17 seconds later Esky junior Katey Lamb picked up her fifth foul, forcing the orange and black to finish the remaining 4:06 without their starting point guard. After freshman Evan Pankonien drained a pair of free throws off the Lamb foul and junior Mayce Hanson split a pair of gifters with 3:30 to go, Johnson put the final few nails in the coffin.

The sophomore phenom drained jump shots on back-to-back possessions to claim a 56-46 lead with 2:22 remaining. The Eskymos clawed back to eight points with a layup from senior Morgan Maki with 1:15 to go, but Johnson hit another jump shot to reclaim a 10-point advantage with 50 seconds to go.

Braun earned a shot and a foul with 31.6 remaining, but missed the free throw to complete the 3-point play. Johnson knocked down a pair of free throws with 28.5 to go, ultimately giving the Braves the win.

With the win, the Braves are now 6-1 in GNC play. Their last remaining conference game comes in Kingsford on Feb. 20. Gladstone defeated the Flivvers 57-25 on Dec. 12, 2023.

A win would give the Braves their third ever conference championship first conference championship since 2012.

“We knew that this was a must-win game,” Cretens said. “If we can lock (a conference title) in… it’s something pretty special for our program and for this group of girls.”

For Escanaba, Monday’s game was a tale of two halves. Head coach Tracy Hudson was left happy with the Eskymo’s first half performance, especially on offense. But Esky mustered 19 points in the second half, not enough to match Johnson’s 23.

He described the loss as “a gut punch”

“I just didn’t feel like our energy and our focus was what it needed to be in the second half,” Hudson said. “They heard us on the boards on the free throws. They heard us on the hustle plays around the basket. We had our opportunities, but we could never get that (first half) momentum back.”

Hudson told the team after the game that he was proud of their first half efforts, but they have to be stronger mentally when they face adversity.

“We get emotional and we kind of want to live in the past instead of focusing on the next play,” Hudson said. “We have trouble moving on from a bad two or three minutes. We’ve got to find a way to be poised, play harder, play tougher. I felt like when things started going backwards, we got we basically our effort or energy level dropped.

“That was the one thing I was kind of disappointed in.”

The Eskymos host No. 1 Ishpeming at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Braves host Gwinn at 7:15 p.m. Thursday.

Box Score

Escanaba 15 17 12 7 — 51

Gladstone 10 12 14 24 — 60

Escanaba: K. Maki 27, Braun 9, M. Maki 7, Lamb 4, Bray 3, Engebretson ; FT: 11-19; Fouls: 17, Fouled out: Lamb; 3-pointers: K. Maki 4, Braun 1, M. Maki 1

Gladstone: Johnson 37, Pankonien 7, Wetthuhn 6, Blowers 5, Hanson 4, Ostlund 1; FT: 12-22; Fouls: 18; Fouled out: none; 3-pointers: Johnson 1, Blowers 1, Hanson 1, Pankonien 1