Negaunee’s Madison Pekrul, right, attempts a layup during an MHSAA Division 2 girls basketball district tournament championship game played against Gladstone at Lakeview Memorial Gymnasium in Negaunee on Friday. (Escanaba Daily Press photo by Mitch Vosburg)

NEGAUNEE — There’s something lovable about a good underdog.

Whether it’s the 1980 U.S. men’s ice hockey team, the 2007 New York Giants of the NFL or even the 2004 Detroit Pistons of the NBA, an underdog is easy to cheer for. The 2024-25 Gladstone girls’ basketball team is no exception.

Sure, the Braves’ 21-2 record entering Friday’s district championship game doesn’t scream “underdog.” But playing 22-0 Negaunee on its home floor put the Braves as anything but favorites. Especially considering that both of Gladstone’s losses came to Negaunee by a combined 31 points.

But in March, records are nothing but random sequences of numbers. Especially on Friday night as the Braves rallied after trailing by as many as 10 points in a thrilling 50-47 win over the Miners.

“It didn’t feel real. It still doesn’t feel real,” Braves senior Mayce Hanson said of the win. “Districts was our main goal. But accomplishing it… It just doesn’t feel real. This is something that we’ve worked for, but it’s crazy to me.

“This is all just crazy.”

The win secured Gladstone’s spot in a 7 p.m. regional semifinal game today against Sault Ste. Marie at the Blue Devils’ gym.

“It’s huge for everybody,” Braves coach Andy Cretens said. “Especially the younger kids because it shows what can happen when you put the time and effort in.”

After trailing for a majority of the game’s first three quarters, the Braves went ahead in the final moments of the third period off a layup by none other than junior Lillie Johnson for a 32-31 lead entering the fourth.

From there, the Miners and Braves exchanged the lead three times and sat tied 35-35 for a brief moment to start the fourth stanza.

Then the Braves went on a run of a lifetime.

Hanson came up with two layups. Sophomore Eva Pankonien connected from downtown. Johnson rattled off a triple with 4:14 to go and later knocked down a jumper.

It was a 12-2 run that put Gladstone ahead 47-38 with under four minutes left. The Braves didn’t rail for the rest of the game, fighting off a furious 9-3 desperation run by the Miners, who fell to eventual state champion Detroit Edison in the state semifinal round a year ago.

“It stinks being on the losing end of it. It’s tough, but sometimes you have to tip your hat to the other team,” Miners’ coach Mike O’Donnell said. “I thought Gladstone won the game tonight. I don’t think it was the fault of anything we did. They just made plays consistently down the stretch.

“It was their night.”

The game showed flashes of the previous two meetings between the Braves and Miners. Similar to the first meeting in Gladstone on Jan. 28, the Miners got ahead early as the Braves looked out of sorts offensively. Negaunee claimed 10 of the game’s first 11 points and appeared poised to stay in firm control with a 15-6 lead after the first quarter with all six of Gladstone’s points coming off nine free throw attempts.

Then Johnson connected with a corner 3-pointer less than 10 seconds into the second quarter for the Braves’ first made shot from the floor while simultaneously cutting the deficit to six points.

Gladstone continued to scratch and claw on the scoreboard, clamping down defensively to bottle up the Miners to one made shot from the floor and six free throws.

“Defense is what we like to pride ourselves on,” Cretens said. “We showed that today.”

Johnson added another triple while Hanson and Pankonien added four points each in the frame to trail the Miners 23-20 at intermission.

“We were the underdogs. We knew we just had to come through,” Johnson said. “Our fans came. Our student section came. They definitely played a role.”

The Braves didn’t ease off the gas in the third quarter with Johnson collecting nine of her game-high 27 points to take the lead going into the fourth quarter.

It was a similar scenario as the second meeting between the two teams on Feb. 27. In that matchup, the Miners pulled away with multiple big shots from beyond the arc.

Those shots did not fall for the Miners when they needed them. This time, the Braves ended the game with the final push to end Negaunee’s season in the district title game for the first time since the 2020-21 season.

The Braves claimed their first district championship since the 2011-12 season, a time when a majority of this season’s roster was learning the alphabet. That was a season when the Braves finished 24-2 before losing 66-52 to Freeland in the state quarterfinal round.

But a lot has changed since that magical run 13 years ago.

Jammie Botruff, a member of the 2011-12 squad, is no longer the program’s all-time leading scorer. That title belongs to Johnson, who’s also the program’s all-time leading rebounder, the 12th Gladstone basketball player, boys or girls, to net 1,000 points, a back-to-back Great Northern Conference Player of the Year recipient and a first-team All-State player in Division 2 last season despite playing Division 3.

But if you ask Johnson, Friday’s win means more to her than any individual accolade she’s earned already as a junior.

“This beats every accomplishment I’ve (achieved),” Johnson said with tears beginning to slightly appear in her eyes. “To be able to experience this all together and for this to be our accomplishment means so much more than just my accomplishments.”