News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Alpena senior Taylor Baker goes up for a shot while being contested by a pair of Marquette defenders during a Division 1 district semifinal game on Wednesday at Alpena High School. The Wildcats lost 56-31.

There is no question that the Alpena High girls basketball team’s kryptonite on the basketball court is Marquette.

Wednesday’s 56-31 district semifinal loss for the Wildcats marked the third time in the last five years that their season has ended at the hands of the Redettes.

Despite having the luxury of playing on its home court, Alpena was unable to find a rhythm offensively and the Redettes found ways to score inside and out, putting the Wildcats in an early hole it never got out of.

“We just have to score and we struggled to do that. We had so many missed shots and so many opportunities,” Alpena coach Erin Andrews said. “We knew that we would need one shot or two and limit them to one shot or no shots, but we dug ourselves a hole in the beginning and we just couldn’t get out of it.”

Both teams started slow and Alpena’s only lead of the night was after the first three minutes of the game when Jade Schultz scored on a layup to put the Wildcats up 3-2. The rest of the night belonged to the Redettes.

Marquette closed the quarter on a 12-2 run.

Kaleah Puskala and Aspen Michelin each hit a three-pointer in the quarter and combined for 12 of the Redettes’ 14 first quarter points, helping Marquette build a nine-point lead.

After finding its rhythm, Marquette started pulling away. The Redettes scored eight unanswered points during a four minute stretch in the second quarter to take a 25-8 lead.

Marquette found success inside and took jump shots from all over the court. It help the Redettes take a comfortable 33-16 lead into the break after strong play on both ends of the floor.

“In that first quarter they (Marquette) hit two threes and came right out in the second and hit another one. We adjusted our defense to try and take that away and tried to take away their inside, but they made shots and shot a lot of free-throws and we definitely did not,” Andrews said. “I told the girls at halftime that we needed to come out and get after it. We needed to knock down some big shots, a couple of threes and look to score instead of being patient. we just needed some people to step up and just score and not worry about what offense we were running or what we were doing.”

The shots did not fall for the Wildcats as they only hit one triple on the night that came from Allie DeRocher early in the second quarter. DeRocher scored a game-high 14 points in the loss.

Marquette continued to fill the cup in the third quarter and extend the lead.

The Redettes ended the third in style as Olivia McMahon hit a long two at the buzzer to give Marquette a commanding 46-24 lead.

Alpena emptied its bench midway through the fourth quarter trailing by 20 as the Redettes cruised to a convincing win on Alpena’s home court.

“I told the girls in the locker room, the longer I’m here, the harder it is for them to leave. I’m going to miss this senior group. They’re good kids and this team in general is just filled with good kids. I like being in the gym with them and they just appreciate being here and they like to play,” Andrews said. “There was no drama, good attitudes all the time and that’s a dream as a coach.”

The Redettes featured balanced scoring. Maddie Carter paced Marquette with 12 points and Maria Millado added 11 as the two Redettes in double-figures. Michelin and Puskala each chipped in with eight points.

Jade Schultz finished her Wildcat career on the court with eight points in the losing effort.

Alpena ends the year with a 10-10 record and will have a solid core of talent coming back next season.

“We graduate some kids, but we definitely have some juniors and sophomores that got some playing time. We’ll continue to have some young kids that keep cycling through the JV and varsity,” Andrews said. “We’re going to have to put in work in the offseason. That’s what it’s all about. Who’s going to be in the gym, take extra shots in between seasons. We have a lot of good athletes here and we just need to get in the weight room and get bigger, faster and stronger and hopefully it will all work out.”

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BOX SCORE: Field Goals Made/Free Throws Made/Free Throws Attempted/Total Points

MARQUETTE (56): M. Millado 4 2-4 11; K. Puskala, 3 1-2 8; A. Michelin, 3 3-4 8; M. Carter, 4 3-3 12; A. Kelly, 2 0-0 4; O. McMahon, 1 0-0 2; S. van den Ende, 1 1-4 3; B. Michelin, 0 2-3 2; Z. Smith, 0 1-2 1.

ALPENA (31): A. DeRocher, 6 1-2 14; E. Clarke, 2 0-0 4; T. Baker, 0 1-2 1; J. Schultz, 3 2-4 8; J. Leeck, 1 0-0 2; A. Urlaub, 1 0-0 2.