The Houghton bench cheers on their teammates during a game Monday against Marquette in the Houghton gym. (Eddie O’Neill/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — A slow start by the Houghton Gremlins girls basketball team on the hardwood of the Houghton High School gym Monday, in a game against the Marquette Sentinels, was not ideal for girls coach Julie Filpus.

However, a strong second and third quarter put the girls in the lead, and a steady fourth quarter earned them a 49-44 victory.

Monday’s win evened the score between these two rivals. The Sentinels (5-13) downed the Gremlins in early February by a score of 55-40 in Marquette.

“I liked the energy and teamwork that we brought to quarters two and three,” said Filpus. “It was spectacular.”

She added that she does not like quarter one being a warmup. The Sentinels won the first, 16-7.

“We have got to come out in the first and hit shots,” Filpus added.

However, the Gremlins outscored the Sentinels 20-2 in the second to move a nine-point deficit (16-7) into a nine-point lead (27-18) at half.

“At half, I told them to keep the momentum from quarter two going,” Filpus said, “and they did.”

The Gremlins kept their opponent to just three points and they went on to score 13.

While the Marquette girls outpaced Houghton 23-9 in the fourth, it was not enough to overcome the Gremlins’ sizable lead.

Ruby Zawada led the scoring for the Gremlins with 16. That included four 3-pointers. Teammate Jacey Sleeman followed with 11.

Avery Osborne poured in 20 points for the Sentinels.

“I thought Jacey did a great job of holding Osborne scoreless in quarters two and three,” Filpus added. “She is tough to defend.”

Up next

The Gremlins (13-5) will welcome the Kingsford Flivvers to their gym on Thursday.