Helena shuts down Hashley, Bravettes
Flathead guard Meghan O’Connell battles for a loose ball with Helena High’s Sara Noonan during first-half action Tuesday at the FHS gym. The Bengals came out on top 50-45. Karen Nichols/Daily Inter Lake
After the first few minutes of Tuesday's Class AA opener between Flathead and Helena, it seemed like a case of deja vu for the Bravettes.
Scoring six of her team's first eight points, senior Holli Hashley pushed Flathead to an 8-0 lead with 4:32 left in the opening quarter and seemed poised for another 20-point outburst. Then the strangest thing happened - she stopped scoring.
Hashley finished the first half with 10 points as Flathead and Helena went into the locker room tied at 22. However, she scored only two second-half points and had trouble even getting the ball against the Bengals' aggressive man-to-man attack.
The Bravettes scored only nine total points in the fourth quarter as Helena went on to win 50-45, shocking Flathead on its home court.
"(Helena) did a good job sagging in on her, and we couldn't counter it from the outside," Flathead coach Dennis Latimer said. "They played good man-to-man defense and we had trouble running our offense, which is disappointing because I thought (man offense) was our strength."
Lost in the lackluster offensive showing from the Bravettes was the outstanding effort of junior Leslie Quay, who was inserted into the starting lineup after forward Sara Newgard broke her wrist in last Friday's win over Columbia Falls. Newgard is expected to miss at least a month.
Quay filled in admirably in her absence, finishing with nine points (all in the third quarter), seven rebounds and a team-high three steals. She also, however, was beaten for a key layup on the defensive end late in the game.
"I was happy with my offense but that last backdoor cut really hurt," Quay said. "You try to focus when the game is on the line.
"This was our first real competitive game of the season and things just didn't go our way."
A lack of focus is what cost Flathead a chance to move to 4-0 on the season. In the first half alone, the Bravettes turned the ball over 16 times - not the kind of effort to expect from a team expected to once again reach state.
"If you want to make the top-2 in (Western AA), you have to take care of business at home and we didn't do that," said Latimer, whose team fell to 3-1 overall and 0-1 in conference play. "It puts a lot of pressure on us to go and steal some wins on the road."
Chaeney Latimer had a solid effort for Flathead, finishing with 12 points, including the team's only 3-pointer in the contest. Lindsey Aasheim led Helena (2-2, 1-0) with a game-high 13 points.
Flathead's next game is Jan. 5 at home against Missoula Sentinel.
Note: Zoe Nelson, a 2005 FHS graduate and freshman cross country runner at the University of Oregon, was inducted into Flathead's sports Hall of Fame at halftime.
BENGALS 50, BRAVETTES 45
Helena 6 16 13 15 - 50
Flathead 10 12 14 9 - 45
Helena - Aimee Morrison 3 2-2 8, Lindsey Aasheim 5 0-0 13, Heather Grotbo 1 1-4 3, Sara Noonan 1 0-3 2, Meagan Connolly 2 0-0 4, Ann Bugni 3 0-0 6, Alexandra May-Fraser 3 0-0 6, Anna Brooks 3 2-3 8. Totals 21 5-12 50.
Flathead - Christina Zorn 1 2-4 4, Chaeney Latimer 4 3-3 12, Lindsay Ingram 1 0-0 2, Holli Hashley 5 2-2 12, Meghan O'Connell 2 0-1 4, Annie Braseth 1 0-0 2, Leslie Quay 3 3-5 9. Totals 17 10-15 45.
3-point goals: Aasheim (3); Latimer. Fouled out: O'Connell.