Bravettes burst past Lady 'Dogs

Flathead rallies with 9-0 run in third quarter stretch

The Daily Inter Lake

Flathead High School girls basketball coach Kim Elliott knows the Bravettes can strike quickly and score in bunches. He just wishes they wouldn't wait so long to do so.

The Bravettes scored nine unanswered points during a 39-second, third-quarter burst Saturday, overcoming an 11-point deficit to beat visiting Butte 55-51 in a Western AA contest.

Flathead trailed 39-28 with 1 minute, 8 seconds remaining in the third quarter when junior guard Kendalyn Habel hit a 3-pointer, igniting the game-changing run. Junior guard Meghan O'Connell and sophomore post Emilee Hashley followed with 2-pointers before Habel closed the surge with a field goal with 29 seconds left, pulling the Bravettes within two points entering the final frame.

"I just believe in those girls," Elliott said. "We had a great week of practice. It didn't show in the first half, but they never quit, and they know it (comes in) spurts, and they believe in themselves. It's that raw, sister emotion that they have with each other."

The Bravettes took the lead for good when O'Connell sank a free throw to cap an old-fashioned three-point play with 5:49 left in the game. It was Flathead's first advantage since leading 3-2 early in the first quarter.

"I really wish we wouldn't put ourselves in a hole like we did," Elliott said. "But I never give up on those girls. They did it."

Habel scored 17 points to lead the Bravettes, who made just 36.7 percent of their field goals, including 21.7 percent in the first half.

Butte led 25-18 at halftime, but Flathead's defensive adjustments kept the Bravettes within striking distance until their shooters found their touch.

"We started switching up the defense after Butte just hammered us with their outside shooting," Elliott said. "(Butte's coaches) set some very nice stuff for their girls to get open, and (Butte coach Jeff Arntson) did a superb job with getting his girls open. We had to switch up our defense to get us back in the game.

"We decided that every time down the floor it is going to be something different, and that's when they started coming back to us."

Junior forward Brianne McClafferty paced Butte with a game-high 21 points, but the Lady Bulldogs struggled mightily at the foul line, converting just nine of 20 (45 percent) free-throw attempts.

The Lady Bulldogs entered the game with a 68 percent free-throw shooting mark (second in Class AA), making their charity-stripe woes all the more confounding to their coach.

"The kids just have to learn to concentrate and step up and knock down those free throws," Arntson said. "We've been doing it all year, and for some reason today it left us and it cost us the game."

Butte drops to 5-3 in conference play and 9-5 overall.

O'Connell tallied 14 points for the Bravettes, who improve to 5-2 in Western AA play and 10-4 overall. Senior forward Lindsay Ingram added nine points, including eight in Flathead's explosive second half.

"The difference was turnovers in the second half," Elliott said. "We finally got it under control and were able to win a close game because of that."

The Bravettes committed 17 turnovers, but only six in the second half. Butte turned the ball over 20 times - often in critical situations.

"We've got a couple young kids - a freshman and sophomore - handling our ball handling for us, and every now and then they still look like freshmen and sophomores," Arntson said. "Most of the time they play very smart, but they had a few mental breakdowns today."

Freshman guard Lexie Nelson was Butte's second-leading scorer with 13 points.

The Bravettes made 50 percent of their second-half shots (13 of 26) after Elliott told them to stop attempting 3-pointers and attack the rim instead as several Lady Bulldogs were in foul trouble.

Butte's 6-foot-3 junior post Joey O'Neil scored eight points, but played much of the second half with four fouls. The Lady Bulldogs' 5-11 sophomore forward Gwenn Abbott scored two points before fouling out.

Besides keeping the Bravettes in the Western AA title hunt, the stirring comeback victory was important to Flathead's psyche as it marches toward the postseason.

"They believe because they did it, and it's really tough to believe when you haven't accomplished something," Elliott said. "They accomplished it, they felt it."

Flathead looks to win for the fifth time in six outings when it visits Missoula Hellgate on Thursday.

"The Bravette heart just keeps getting bigger," Elliott said. "These girls are just growing stronger. The heart is a muscle, and it pumps blood to everything else. These girls are pumping blood, they're pumping emotions to (each other), and they're not letting anybody get down."

Butte 15 10 14 12 - 51

Flathead 8 10 19 18 - 55

BUTTE (9-5, 5-3) - Lexie Nelson 3 5-8 13, Kallie McCloskey 0 0-1 0, Shelbie Rosa 1 0-0 2, Brianne McClafferty 9 3-4 21, Gwenn Abbott 1 0-4 2, Joey O'Neil 4 0-0 8, Brianne Holland-Stergar 2 1-3 5. Totals 20-50 9-20 51.

FLATHEAD (10-4, 5-2) - Christina Zorn 0-2 2-2 2, Chaeney Latimer 0-0 2-2 2, Kendalyn Habel 7-13 2-5 17, Lindsay Ingram 3-5 3-4 9, Emilee Hashley 2-5 2-2 6, Meghan O'Connell 4-11 5-7 14, Sara Newgard 0-1 0-2 0, Chelsea Vaudt 0-4 1-7 1, Annie Braseth 1-5 0-0 2, Leslie Quay 1-3 0-2 2. Totals 18-49 17-33 55.

3-point goals - Butte 2 (Nelson 2), FHS 2-9 (Zorn 0-1, Habel 1-3, O'Connell 1-5). Rebounds - Butte 29, FHS 36 (Zorn 1, Latimer 1, Habel 6, Ingram 1, Hashley 5, O'Connell 1, Newgard 5, Vaudt 7, Braseth 3, Quay 3, team 3). Assists - Butte 9, FHS 9 (Zorn 1, Ingram 1, Hashley 1, O'Connell 2, Newgard 1, Braseth 1, Quay 1, Ashley Younkin 1). Steals - Butte 10, FHS 13 (Zorn 1, Latimer 1, Hashey 2, O'Connell 4, Newgard 2, Braseth 2, Quay 1). Blocks - Butte 2, FHS 1 (O'Connell 1). Turnovers - Butte 20, FHS 17. Total fouls - Butte 21, FHS 14. Fouled out - Butte 1 (Abbott), FHS 0.