O'Connell, Bravettes upend Sentinel

| March 10, 2007 1:00 AM

The Daily Inter Lake

Guard scores 23 points as Flathead downs Spartans

BILLINGS - Meghan O'Connell scored 17 of her game-high 23 points in the opening half as Flathead upended Missoula Sentinel 59-47 Friday in loser-out action at the Class AA state girls basketball tournament.

O'Connell also went 4-for-4 from the free throw line down the stretch to held off Sentinel. She hit 8-of-10 free throws for the game.

Ashley Younkin pushed the FHS advantage to 12 points, 50-38, with a free throw and immediately followed that by stealing a Sentinel pass and going in for an easy layup. That came with 2:43 to play and iced the win for FHS.

Younkin finished with seven points. She was 3-for-3 shooting from the field.

Chelsea Vaudt finished with 10 points for the Bravettes (16-7).

Flathead led 14-10 and 31-19 after the first two quarter stops. Sentinel clawed its way back by outscoring the Bravettes 12-4 in the third period.

Flathead and Sentinel (15-7) split their regular-season series, both winning by double digits on their home courts.

Flathead plays a loser-out contest at 10:30 a.m. today. The winner of that game moves on to the consolation final at 5 p.m.

Flathead 14 17 4 24 - 59

Missoula Sentinel 10 9 12 16 - 47

FLATHEAD (16-7)

Christina Zorn 0-0 0-2 0, Chaeney Latimer 0-0 2-3 2, Kendalyn Habel 2-4 2-2 7, Lindsay Ingram 0-2 0-0 0, Emilee Hashley 1-1 2-6 4, Meghan O'Connell 6-12 8-10 23, Sara Newgard 1-3 2-2 4, Ashley Younkin 3-3 1-2 7, Chelsea Vaudt 3-5 4-6 10, Annie Braseth 0-2 2-2 2, Leslie Quay 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-32 23-35 59.

MISSOULA SENTINEL (15-7)

Cassie Kavran 2-3 0-1 4, Jen Keddy 0-0 0-0 0, Tiffany Seeburger 1-4 1-1 3, Meghan Eisenmann 2-5 0-0 4, Alicia Martin 2-2 0-0 4, Reagan Cole 0-0 0-0 0, Jessica Mikulski 3-6 0-0 8, Lindsay Wimett 4-13 2-5 11, Tiffany Cole 1-3 2-5 5, Michelle Powers 3-4 0-1 6, Emily Garland 0-0 0-3, Kayli Peterson 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 19-41 5-16 47.

3-point goals-Flathead 4-8 (O'Connell 3-5, Habel 1-2, Braseth 0-1), Sentinel 4-12 (Mikulski 2-4, Cole 1-2, Wimett 1-4, Eisenmann 0-1). Fouled out-Seeburger. Total fouls-Flathead 20, Sentinel 25. Rebounds-Flathead 30 (Hashley, Newgard 6), Sentinel 23 (Eisenmann 7).