Bravettes pull away from Lady Bulldogs

WHITEFISH - About five minutes.

The Whitefish Lady Bulldogs (5-5, 3-2) would probably like to replay about five minutes- the final two minutes of the third quarter and the first three of the fourth - of Tuesday's nonconference basketball contest with the Flathead Bravettes.

That's when the Bravettes turned what had been a close ballgame into a 50-35 victory.

"We talk about possessions," Whitefish coach Dean McFadden said.

"We have a four-point game. We turn the ball over … unforced turnover … then we get caught sleeping on defense."

The next trip down the court, the Bulldogs missed a three-to-four foot shot.

"Our four-point game turns into an eight-point game just like that. Those are things we are working on," McFadden said.

"Basically, we just started to get the outside shots," Flathead coach Dennis Latimer said.

The Bravettes hit four 3-pointers on the night. Three - two by sophomore guard Christina Zorn and one by senior forward Amanda Lidstrom - were during those critical five minutes.

"That's when it unraveled a little bit for (the Bulldogs). But (Whitefish) never quit competing," Latimer added.

"Whitefish played us pretty tough, I thought, and that's good for us. We want to be in some tough games and this is always going to be a barnburner."

Zorn was just happy to help.

"It's a good feeling to help our team like that," she said afterward.

"We got off to a bad start," she said. "We're a little tired today, I think because of the snow day."

Flathead led just 19-15 at the half.

"Coach told us to step up at halftime," Zorn said. "We had to get the intensity up and we had to run our offense.

"We were a little sluggish and didn't communicate as well as we did the second half."

The Bulldogs did a good job denying the ball to Flathead standout Holli Hashley.

"Holli Hashley is an outstanding player. It's important for us not to let her get the ball. We did that for about three quarters," McFadden said.

"But then if you don't keep her off the glass, she'll destroy you."

But senior forward Lindsay Bennett stepped up with six points in the second quarter, all on long-range jumpers.

"Those were some long shots for Lindsay," Latimer said. "But she squared up and no one was within 10 feet of her.

"We kind of challenged her to hit those shots," McFadden said.

"She did it in the first half. Holli (Hashley) does it in the second half."

Bennett and Hashley each finished the game with 12 points for Flathead.

"I'm proud that we shut down some of their people a couple times," McFadden said.

"This is a great tape for us to watch to see where we broke down.

"But we continued to work hard," he added.

"And when we start getting better at reading and understanding the game and the score, I think we'll be OK."

Tracy Schwada led Whitefish with a season-high 14 points and eight rebounds.

BRAVETTES 50, BULLDOGS 35

Flathead 11 8 16 15 - 50

Whitefish 7 8 10 10 - 35

Flathead - Christina Zorn 2 1-2 7, Chaeney Latimer 1 2-2 5, Amanda Lidstrom 2 0-0 5, Holli Hashley 4 4-5 12, Meghan O'Connell 3 0-0

6, Sara Newgard 0 1-2 1, Lindsay Bennett 5 2-4 12, Alena Ori 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 10-15 50.

Whitefish - Cassidy Contreras-Gray 1 0-0 2, Kirsten Blackburn 2 0-0 6, Kyle Salisbury 2 0-0 4, Tracy Schwada 6 2-3 14, Tessa Kalfell 3

0-2 6, Erin Greiner 1 0-0 2, Katie Cain 0 1-2 1. Totals 15 3-8 35.

3-point goals: Flathead 4 (Zorn 2, Latimer 1, Lidstrom 1), Whitefish 2 (Blackburn). Total fouls: Flathead 11, Whitefish 13. Fouled out: