Bravettes bury Hellgate

When teams come in to play Flathead, their M.O. seems to be "Stop Holli Hashley, stop the Bravettes."

It may be time to rethink that strategy.

The whole Flathead roster seemed to get into the scoring act Thursday against Missoula Hellgate. In all, 10 different Bravettes scored, making Hashley's 15 points seem almost like an afterthought.

The Bravettes never trailed in the contest, and only a pair of late free throws prevented them from doubling up the Knights in a 60-32 win.

"Teams may think that it's 'Stop Holli, you stop the Bravettes,' but that's wrong," Hashley said. "One person doesn't win a game, it takes five or more to do that."

Almost every Flathead player saw action, and even those who failed to score, like junior Bailey Watkins, still managed to contribute. Watkins grabbed six rebounds off the bench as Flathead out-rebounded Hellgate 47-25. Hashley led the team with eight boards.

"It's a great thing when that many girls contribute," Flathead coach Dennis Latimer said. "We've been asking for that to happen all season, and it happened tonight."

Chelsea Vaudt, who was inserted into the starting lineup after junior Leslie Quay suffered a knee injury, finished with six points and five rebounds.

"Chelsea is the tallest girl in our program," Latimer said of the 6-foot junior. "When she's giving us good defense and grabbing rebounds, she's really paying dividends for us."

After Vaudt opened the game with a layup, Hashley scored the game's next seven points to put the team up 9-2 with 1:01 left in the opening quarter. Hellgate's Melissa Jenkins (team-high 10 points) closed out the period with a seven-footer at the buzzer.

Vaudt again opened the next quarter with a basket to put her team up seven, then added a pair of free throws to kick off a 10-0 Flathead run. Junior Annie Braseth had five points during the run, and capped it off with a steal and 3-point play to give Flathead a 21-7 advantage.

"Annie really sparked us tonight; she worked her butt off," said junior Christina Zorn, who added 12 points in a reserve role. "Everything just came together for us tonight."

Indeed, even the team's defense, which had been porous of late, came alive as Flathead forced 30 turnovers in the contest.

"Our main focus in practice this week has been defense, and it paid off tonight," said Hashley, who led the team with four steals.

The win was not only the Bravettes' first in AA play, but also their first victory in almost a month.

"It's always nice to get that first AA win, because you can build from that," said Latimer, whose team improved to 4-3 overall and 1-2 in conference play. "Now our next goal is to take revenge on the teams that beat us at home."

They have a chance to do just that Saturday at Helena. The Bengals beat Flathead 50-45 on Dec. 20.