CMR survives Bravette comeback

Flathead rallies from15 down, ties game before falling, 61-53

BILLINGS - The Bravettes made an amazing comeback Thursday in the opening round of the Class AA State Tournament.

But their rally past Great Falls C.M. Russell fell short, 61-53, in the MetraPark.

Down by 15 points with 7 minutes left in the third quarter, the Flathead High School girls basketball team came back to tie it, 44-44, with 5 minutes, 50 seconds left in the game.

But five different Rustlers scored points in a 13-4 run after that. And even though a Kendalyn Habel 3-pointer and Meghan O'Connell jumper got the Bravettes back to within four points with 30 seconds left in the game, a fast-break basket and two free throws by CMR's Kelsey Hopkins iced the victory.

"I honestly thought that we were going to win that game, the way the girls kept playing," Flathead coach Kim Elliott said. "They gave me the opportunity to really enjoy this game. We just got beat by somebody who is better than us."

The loss dropped the Bravettes to 15-7 on the year and into the consolation bracket, where they play Missoula Sentinel (15-6) today at noon in loser-out action. The Spartans lost to defending-champ Bozeman, 65-62, in the first round.

CMR (17-4) advances to play the Hawks (18-4) in the semifinals.

It was like a little spell of deja vu for the Bravettes early.

They made only one of 12 first-quarter shots against CMR's man-to-man defense - similar to what they made in their Jan. 6 meeting with the Rustlers - and fell behind big early.

"We knew that they were going to try and attack the rim and also get inside and try for second-chance points," CMR coach Chad Olson said. "But we knew that if we could keep them in front of us and shoot jump shots we'd have a very good chance of winning."

Even worse, CMR dominated the boards throughout the entire game. At the half, the Rustlers held a 20-5 rebounding advantage. They finished with a 43-18 advantage.

"I think what we were more concerned about was shutting down a whole bunch of their offensive stuff," Elliott said. "We scouted out their set plays real well and shut them down. But then I think we forgot to turn around when the ball went up."

On top of that, CMR was a perfect 6-for-6 shooting in the first quarter and finished the first half with a 71.4 percent shooting clip from inside the arc.

Still, Flathead managed to claw back into it on the strength of forcing 29 turnovers and making 48 percent of its second-half shots.

O'Connell had six steals and Emilee Hashley had four as the Bravettes tallied 19.

"That's what Flathead thrives on and we knew that coming in and we would have hoped that we could have handled that better," Olson said. "I give Flathead credit for taking us out of our game. They flat out got after our guards. They thrive off of chaos and thrive off of turnovers and we knew that and they were still able to do that. They are gutty. I'm surprised that our kids let it happen. We are a quality team that can knock down big shots. Not to take anything away from Flathead, but we were playing on our heels and we let them dictate the action."

Habel scored 17 points, O'Connell had 13 and senior Sara Newgard added seven points. Even though the Bravettes shot better in the second half, they were able to get to within four or five points a handful of times but couldn't get over the hump.

"How many times were we down by five and then missed a bunny underneath and then fouled them?" Elliott asked. "We should have been down by three and pressing them instead of down by seven. But that's the fun of the game."

Hopkins finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Rustlers.

"This might have been the best thing that happens for us," Olson said. "Every girl on our team had to step up and answer the call. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't our best game of the season but we survived and now everybody on our team has quality tournament minutes and they know they can answer the call."

Elliott was a little choked up after the game.

"We made them beat us," he said. "We did not give them this thing. A lot of those shots late in the game could have easily gone in. Couple of those threes, couple free throws. They just did not quit. They haven't all year, ever. I'm so appreciative of the effort they gave. I will really miss these girls. But … We've still got three more games."

CMR 14 19 9 19 - 61

Flathead 6 16 13 18 - 53

CMR (17-4) - Kelsey Hopkins 6-7 4-8 16, Jill Zeren 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Foster 2-5 5-5 10, Moregn Oswood 2-4 0-1 6, Bobbie Lee 5-8 2-2 12, Jolyn Sweeney 0-0 0-0 0, Mary Anderson 1-2 0-4 2, Becca Frank 1-3 0-0 2, Maghan Yurek 3-8 2-2 8, Amanda Barringer 0-3 0-0 0, Sarah Degooyer 2-2 0-0 5. Totals 22-42 13-22 61.

FLATHEAD (15-7) - Christina Zorn 0-0 0-0 0, Chaeney Latimer 0-1 0-0 0, Kendalyn Habel 4-10 7-7 17, Linsday Ingram 2-5 0-0 4, Ally Krautbauer 0-0 0-0 0, Emilee Hashley 2-5 1-4 5, Meghan O'Connell 5-15 3-6 13, Sara Newgard 2-5 3-3 7, Ashley Younkin 1-1 0-0 2, Chelsea Vaudt 1-3 1-2 3, Annie Braseth 0-1 0-0 0, Leslie Quay 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 18-47 15-22 53.

3-pointers - CMR 4-12 (Degooyer 1-1, Oswood 2-3, Foster 1-4, Frank 0-1, Yurek 0-3), FHS 2-14 (Habel 2-5, Latimer 0-1, Ingram 0-1, Hashley 0-1, O'Connell 0-6). Rebounds - CMR 43 (Hopkins 11), FHS 18 (Ingram 3, Hashley 3, Quay 3). Assists - CMR 10 (Yurek 3), FHS 2 (Habel 1, Younkin 1). Steals - CMR 6 (Lee 2, Anderson 2), FHS 19 (O'Connell 6, Hashley 4). Blocks - CMR 0, FHS 1 (Vaudt). Turnovers - CMR 29, FHS 15. Total fouls - CMR 21, FHS 18. Fouled out - None.