GILMAN GIRLS BASKETBALL - Pirates grab early lead, cruise from there to win at Flambeau

GILMAN GIRLS BASKETBALL

The Gilman Pirates dominated from all angles Thursday and cruised to a 2-0 start to the girls basketball season with a 68-22 non-conference win at Flambeau.

The tone was set defensively with fullcourt pressure creating 22 steals and allowing the Falcons to make only eight of 34 shots overall from the field.

Gilman was able to convert the turnovers into points, made 21 of 44 shots from two-point range and six of 19 more from 3-point range and outrebounded Flambeau 42-25 in the lopsided win.

Gilman scored the game’s first seven points off Flambeau turnovers, getting a Claire Drier score off a Kayleigh James steal, a James basket off an Allie Olynick steal and Drier’s three-point play off a steal. James hit a 3 for a 10-2 lead and the Pirates rolled from there.

“Flambeau has always been a fast and scrappy team,” Gilman head coach Tammy Weir said. “But, we took control of the game a few minutes in and didn’t look back. All 12 got out on the court and they played hard. Hard and fast. Our turnovers were much better at 18 and our steals were through the roof again.”

The 18 turnovers nearly cut in half the 34 the Pirates had in their season-opening win over Edgar Nov. 19.

Gilman’s early lead grew to 18-4 before the Pirates hit a stretch where they cooled off and the Falcons made a bit of a dent in the lead, getting within 25-15 on a rebound basket by Kerigan Lebal.

Olynick drove to the rim and scored and that got the Pirates’ offense going again. A basket by Drier, two free throws from Olynick, a jumper from Raygen Soper and Olynick’s score with 10 seconds left gave Gilman a 35-17 halftime lead.

Soper and James drilled 3-balls as Gilman quickly pushed the lead to 25 early in the half at 44-19. Flambeau scored just five points in the entire second half. Aubrey Steinbach and James sank 3s to push the game into running clock territory and freshman Norah Noonan added her first varsity basket for Gilman’s last field goal.

James ended with three 3-point makes and finished with 20 points, nearly outscoring Flambeau on her own. The senior had three offensive rebounds, four steals and three assists. Olynick scored 13 points, grabbed eight rebounds and added three steals. Drier hit double figures with 11 points and had six rebounds, three steals, two assists and one of Gilman’s five blocked shots.

Freshman Reece Weir led Gilman with 12 rebounds and three blocked shots. She scored seven points and dished out four assists. Steinbach scored six points and had three steals, three rebounds and two assists. Soper had five points, two rebounds, two assists, two steals and a blocked shot. Addy Vick had four points and four steals.

Noonan had four rebounds and two assists to go with her basket. Patty Kloss got her first varsity stats with two rebounds and a steal. Scarlett Stuner had an assist and Averie Olynick grabbed a rebound.

The Pirates were at New Auburn for another non-conference game against an East Lakeland squad Tuesday. Gilman opens Eastern Cloverbelt Conference play Tuesday at Owen-Withee at 7:15 p.m.