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Girls basketball: Gladstone beats Kingsford, 52-43

Kingsford's Jordyn Kriegl (10) and Olivia Allen (22) defend against Gladstone's Kaitlyn Hardwick as she gets into the lane during the second quarter Tuesday at Gladstone. (Avery Bundgaard/The Daily Press)

GLADSTONE — The Gladstone girls’ basketball team clamped down on defense in the first half on its way to a 52-43 non-conference victory over Kingsford.

Gladstone coach Andy Cretens credits the win to his team’s preparation.

“We had a really good practice yesterday,” Cretens said. “We watched some film and showed the girls some of the things I was seeing that I don’t think that they were seeing. They really bought into that and they executed.”

The Braves (2-3) got off to a big start using their defense to go up 10-4. They forced seven turnovers in the first quarter, but the Flivvers kept within reach as they only trailed 12-9 at the end of the period.

The Braves kept up their defense forcing seven more turnovers and elevated their offense in the second quarter as they started on a 12-3 run and took a 26-14 lead into halftime.

“My girls are just playing hard,” Cretens said. “Every time down the floor they’re playing hard. Kaitlyn Hardwick does a great job guarding the other team’s best player. She creates a lot of havoc up there and the other girls feed off of her. Every one of them was flying around today. They took it to heart and knew it was a big game for us and we really needed the win.”

Olivia Allen had a team-high 12 points for the Flivvers while Jordyn Kriegl and Tori Kowalkowski each added eight.

Taylor Hunter led the Braves with 13 points while Hardwick had 12 and Andie Balenger added 10.

Gladstone caught fire in the third quarter as it hit on all seven of its shots and built a 16-point lead at one point. The Braves took a 40-26 lead at the end of the third period and the only reason why it wasn’t more is because the Flivvers picked up their defense toward the end of the quarter as they forced seven turnovers.

“I thought when we pressed late we did some good things,” said Kingsford coach Mike Cross. “I think our rotations could have been better but that’s a work in progress. I thought it was better in the second half.”

The Flivvers kept up their defensive pressure in the fourth quarter and eventually cut the lead to seven. Kingsford was forced to foul late and Gladstone hit 4-of-9 free throws in the fourth quarter to seal the win.

“I’m a little upset with all the turnovers in the second half,” Cretens said. “But they still showed me something there. When things went bad they didn’t let it snowball further.”

Gladstone travels to Iron Mountain Thursday and Kingsford plays at West Iron County Monday.

Kingsford 9 5 12 17 — 43

Gladstone 12 14 14 12 –52

KINGSFORD (43): J. Kriegl 8, B. Kriegl 5, Kowalkowski 8, Allen 12, Cross 5, Pickett 1, Roberts 4. FT: 6-12. F: 21. 3PT: B. Kriegl 1, Kowalkowski 1, Cross 1.

GLADSTONE (52): Balenger 10, Ahlgren 9, Zeise 2, Hardwick 12, Hunter 13, Crow 6. FT: 10-21. F: 13. 3PT: None.

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