Girls State AA Basketball

At Billings Metra

Thursday

1:30 p.m.

Flathead High School (13-8)

vs.

Great Falls C.M. Russell (16-4)

Bravettes get rematch with CMR

Rustlers won Jan. 6 game at FHS, 73-53

A perfect opportunity awaits the Flathead High School girls basketball team in the first round of the State Class AA Tournament.

The Bravettes open the tournament Thursday against Great Falls C.M. Russell, the No. 1 seed from the Eastern AA.

The Bravettes played the Rustlers on Jan. 6 in the Flathead High School gym. The Rustlers won by 20 points, 73-53. The Bravettes made just 31 percent of their shots in that one and the game proved to be their only home loss of the season.

"That was early in the season for us," Flathead coach Kim Elliott said. "We didn't have a lot of our defenses in yet.

"The girls didn't like that loss too much. They definitely want another shot at them and knocking off a No. 1 seed."

CMR junior point guard Becca Frank had no troubles with Flathead's full-court press while senior guard Bobbie Lee went off for 23 points and 6-foot-3 junior center Mary Anderson registered a double-double.

"We've got shooters, we've got drivers, we've got tall players, we've got it all when they play right," CMR coach Chad Olson said after the Jan. 6 game.

Elliott agreed.

"They are solid all over," he said Monday. "They've got good post play, good guard play, good outside shooters … We just have to play our defense and play our way, the way we've been playing while being patient on offense and not turning the ball over.

"We like the matchup with the way we've been playing."

The matchup looks like the most exciting matchup of the opening round. The Bravettes have the No. 1 offense in the state (57.6 points per game); CMR is No. 2. With the two teams neck-and-neck in defensive average - CMR is ranked No. 7, Flathead is No. 8 - the two are real tight in scoring margin also. The Rustlers are ranked No. 4 at plus-9.7 ppg and the Bravettes are No. 5 at plus-9.4 ppg.

As their Jan. 6 game would indicate, CMR is a very good shooting team. The Rustlers made 54.3 percent of their shots in that game and finished the season as the No. 1 shooting team in the state (44.6 percent). Flathead is No. 3 with a 41.3 percent shooting clip.

Team steals? Flathead is No. 1 with 17.5 per game; CMR is third at 11.9.

Rebounding? Flathead is third; CMR is sixth.

It's CMR's outside game that could really throw the Bravettes' defense into disarray. CMR made 75 3-pointers on the season (compared to Flathead's 56). The Rustlers made three treys in the first quarter in that Jan. 6 game en route to a 23-11 first quarter lead.

It was that huge first-half hole that the Bravettes couldn't dig themselves out of in that game, because they ended up winning the second half.

The Bravettes' strengths lie in their seniors (they've got six) and depth - 12 girls normally play a substantial amount of time.

Plus, Elliott has some experience in the state tournament atmosphere because he was an assistant during the Bravettes' state title teams of 2000 and 2001.

"I've been there, done that," Elliott said. "But another plus we have for us is we've got some family experience. Annie Braseth's older sister was on those teams so Annie has been to the state tournaments and all the girls on the team have watched the tapes of those championship games - many times."

Flathead Lineup

ppg rpg apg 3-pntrs spg

G Kendalyn Habel, 5-7, jr. 11.3 4.6 1.0 18 2.5

G Lindsay Ingram, 5-9, sr. 9.1 2.8 0.6 6 0.8

PG Meghan O'Connell, 5-6, jr. 6.9 2.2 2.7 12 3.1

F Leslie Quay, 5-10, sr. 2.7 5.4 0.8 0 1.5

F Sara Newgard, 5-10, sr. 6.1 4.9 1.2 0 1.8

F Chelsea Vaudt, 6-0, sr. 4.9 4.7 0.3 0 0.9

G Annie Braseth, 5-8, soph. 2.4 1.9 1.1 1 2.8

C Emilee Hashley, 6-0, soph. 8.7 4.4 0.4 4 1.9

G Chaeney Latimer, 5-6, sr. 3.0 0.9 0.2 6 0.4

G Christina Zorn, 5-4, sr. 2.4 1.3 0.7 8 1.0

TEAM 57.6 33.7 9.5 56 17.5

CMR Starters

ppg rpg apg 3-pntrs spg

F Kelsey Hopkins, 5-11, sr. 13.1 6.1 1.8 1 2.1

F Jordan Foster, 5-7, jr. 8.1 3.2 1.9 37 2.0

G Bobbie Lee, 5-6, sr. 6.5 3.6 2.7 4 1.3

PG Becca Frank, 5-6, jr. 6.4 2.5 3.3 10 2.5

C Mary Anderson, 6-3, jr. 11.6 7.8 1.7 0 1.9

TEAM 56.3 28.9 16.4 75 11.9

KEY: Points Per Game (ppg), Rebounds Per Game (rpg), Assists Per Game (apg), 3-Point Field Goals (3-pntrs) and Steals Per Game (spg).