Bravettes bounce back, capture third
Beat Senior and CMR on Saturday
The Daily Inter Lake
BILLINGS - The Bravettes were not eliminated from the Class AA State Tournament Saturday.
The Flathead High School girls basketball team bounced back from an opening-round loss Thursday to Great Falls C.M. Russell and completed its comeback through the losers' bracket with a 49-43 victory Saturday evening over that same CMR team in the consolation game.
The Bravettes beat Billings Senior, 40-33, Saturday morning in the consolation semifinals after beating Missoula Sentinel Friday in loser-out action.
They finished the season with an 18-7 record.
Flathead 49, CMR 43
Flathead held off CMR in the final moments to claim third place, the Bravettes' highest finish at state since they also took third in 2003.
Senior Chelsea Vaudt lead the Bravettes with 10 points, while Kendalyn Habel and Meghan O'Connell each added nine points. Habel also had 10 rebounds.
The biggest lead enjoyed by either team was five points, and there were three ties and five lead changes in the second quarter and four more ties in the third quarter.
Flathead grabbed the lead for good at 36-33 on a 3-pointer by Habel with 6 minutes, 36 seconds left to play. Although the game remained close, CMR never again got in front.
It was a one-point game with less than two minutes to play, but the Bravettes outscored CMR 8-4 the rest of the way.
Kelsey Hopkins led the way for CMR (18-6) with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Mary Anderson also had double figures with 12 points.
CMR 10 14 9 10 - 43
Flathead 11 13 7 18 - 49
CMR (18-6) - Kelsey Hopkins 6-16 1-5 13, Jordan Foster 1-5 0-0 3, Morgen Oswood 1-2 1-2 3, Bobbie Lee 3-7 1-2 7, Mary Anderson 4-8 4-4 12, Becca Frank 0-5 0-1 0, Maghan Yurek 2-7 0-0 5, Amanda Barringer 0-0 0-0 0, Sarah DeGooyer 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 17-53 7-14 43. 3-pointers: 2-13 (Foster 1-3, Yurek 1-5, Oswood 0-1, DeGooyer 0-1, Frank 0-3). Rebounds: 37 (Hopkins 12). Assists: 10 (Yurek 3). Steals: 5 (Lee 2, Frank 2). Blocked shots: 1 (Anderson). Total fouls: 21. Fouled out: None.
FLATHEAD (18-7) - Kendalyn Habel 4-10 0-0 9, Lindsay Ingram 2-4 1-2 6, Emilee Hashley 2-5 0-0 4, Meghan O'Connell 3-10 2-4 9, Sara Newgard 2-5 3-6 7, Ashley Younkin 0-1 2-2 2, Chelsea Vaudt 4-4 2-3 10, Annie Braseth 0-1 0-0 0, Leslie Quay 0-1 2-6 2. Totals: 17-41 12-23 49. 3-pointers: 3-8 (Ingram 1-1, Habel 1-3, O'Connell 1-4). Rebounds: 36 (Habel 10). Assists: 10 (O'Connell 5). Steals: 6 (Quay 2). Blocked shots: 2 (O'Connell, Quay). Turnovers: 14. Total fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.
Flathead 40,
Billings Senior 33
O'Connell scored 16 points and Habel added 10 to lead the Bravettes into the consolation game.
The Bravettes took a 15-9 lead after the first quarter and never looked back. They held Billings Senior to four points in the third quarter.
Senior got to within two points in the late going, 35-33, but Habel scored to push the lead to four. Then O'Connell made one of two free throws and Sara Newgard stole the ball and went in for a layup to seal a 5-0 run to end the game.
Lindsay Ingram added five points and Newgard had five points and five rebounds.
Flathead 15 7 11 7 - 40
Senior 9 8 4 12 - 33
FLATHEAD - Kendalyn Habel 4-6 1-3 10, Lindsay Ingram 2-5 0-0 5, Emilee Hashley 0-0 0-0 0, Meghan O'Connell 6-16 3-4 16, Sara Newgard 1-4 3-4 5, Ashley Younkin 1-3 0-0 2, Chelsea Vaudt 1-2 0-0 2, Annie Braseth 0-1 0-0 0, Leslie Quay 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 15-38 7-11 40. 3-point FG: 3-5 (Habel 1-1, Ingram 1-1, O'Connell 1-2, Newgard 0-1). Fouls: 16. Rebounds: 25 (Newgard 6). Assists: 5 (Younkin 2). Blocks: 0. Steals: 8 (Newgard 3). Turnovers: 8.
Billings Senior - Kelly O'Malley 2-7 0-1 4, Hannah Stroebe 0-6 0-1 0, Sheena Ryan 3-10 0-1 9, Medina Culver 1-4 1-2 3, Sara Kennedy 0-8 2-2 2, Jandi Farnsworth 3-8 1-4 7, Kylie Kufeld 1-3 0-0 2, Erin Cooke 3-4 0-0 6, Casey Kennedy 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 13-50 4-11 33. 3-point FG: 3-9 (Ryan 3-5, Stroebe 0-1, Kufeld 0-1, S. Kennedy 0-2). Fouls: 15. Rebounds: 42 (S. Kennedy 7). Assists: 9 (Kufeld 4). Blocks: 1 (Culver). Steals: 2 (Ryan, S. Kennedy). Turnovers: 15.