Bravettes pull off a miracle

Beat Hellgate in overtime

Holy cow.

The Flathead High School girls' basketball team rallied for an improbable comeback victory in overtime Saturday in its own gym.

The Bravettes beat Missoula Hellgate, 55-50.

They never held the lead for the first 33 minutes, 40 seconds of the game.

They were down by four points with 15 seconds left in regulation and didn't have possession of the ball.

They trailed by as many as 19 points.

And the Knights even made a 3-pointer to begin overtime.

It was simply amazing - with a lot of luck mixed in - and the perfect birthday gift for Class AA's leading scorer, Kendalyn Habel.

Trailing by four points with 15 seconds left in regulation, Habel stole the ball and went coast-to-coast for a layup.

"I was thinking I could leave my man and help her and get a steal and it's my birthday and I really didn't want to lose to Hellgate on my birthday, so it was whatever it took," said Habel, who turned 18.

That only cut the deficit to two points.

But on the Knights' ensuing possession, a long-bomb pass went incomplete and clear out of the back of the other baseline.

So Meghan O'Connell took the Bravettes' inbound pass and was accidentally fouled at halfcourt to earn a bonus trip to the free-throw line with 10.8 seconds remaining.

With a timeout sandwiched inbetween the two free shots, O'Connell coolly swished both of them to forge a 45-45 tie.

Hellgate's Rachel Gearheart shot from the baseline at the buzzer, but it hit the front of the rim to force overtime.

Led by Ashley Younkin's and Habel's defensive efforts, the Bravettes outscored the Knights 6-4 in the fourth quarter.

Trailing 48-45 after Catelyn Lower's 3-pointer to start overtime, the Bravettes went on an 8-0 run. Ally Krautbauer, O'Connell, Habel and Younkin each had points in the run.

But with 26 seconds left, Lower drove for a bucket to put the game back at one possession, 53-50. The Knights fouled the Bravettes, who missed both double-bonus free throws with 22.7 seconds left, and came down to set up a 3-point attempt.

That's when Habel struck the final blow.

She stole the ball again and went coast-to-coast for a layup with 9.7 seconds left.

Bravettes 55, Hellgate 50.

"I wanted to seal the deal," Habel said. "There was still an opportunity for them to get a three. It was just instincts."

Habel had four steals in the game's final 4:15. She scored five of her 25 points in overtime. Trailing 33-22 at the half, she scored 11 points in the third quarter after being held to five points in the first half. She finished with only seven rebounds, but the first four came on offense.

"We were stale," Habel said. "We could play but we just couldn't really get going."

The contest proved to be a trap game for the Bravettes after Friday night's emotional crosstown battle with Glacier High School.

On top of that, Hellgate came out and made 14 of their first 19 shots.

"We basically shot the lights out in the first half," Hellgate's first-year coach Dave Paisley said. "We told the girls that probably was not going to keep happening. We were ready for them to make a run. Overall, our girls handled it pretty well."

Paisley and his Knights came out in a 2-3 zone and stymied the Bravettes, who made just one of 15 3-point attempts.

"The Flathead girls are really impressive with their athletic ability," Paisley said. "I didn't think we could match up well with their athleticism. We did a tremendous job in our zone defense and made a couple of adjustments and tried to cover up shooters."

So at halftime, Flathead coach Kim Elliott decided to attack with his 6-foot senior post Kaylyn Heaton.

"We just had Kaylyn post up and keep switching sides," Elliott said.

It worked. Heaton scored four of her six points in the first 4 minutes of the third quarter.

"She was sealing so well," Elliott said. "She is going to end up having a huge game one of these times. We just went after their post because all they were doing was going down and sitting back in their 2-3 zone. Then we started attacking the gaps with our speed."

The adjustments worked. Flathead outscored the Knights 17-8 in the third quarter to make it a two-point game heading into the fourth.

That's when the Bravettes' D took over and held Hellgate without a field goal through the entire frame.

"The girl that gave us the opportunity to get into this game was Ashley Younkin," Elliott said. "She put so much pressure on that ball and brought the rest of us back into the game after that emotional game last night. She was flat out the difference in this game. She was the one that allowed the other kids to do what they needed to because we wouldn't have had the ball."

O'Connell went 6-for-6 from the charity stripe and scored 15 points. She also had seven rebounds. Heaton registered six points and nine rebounds. Along with Habel, they were the only ones with more than one basket for Flathead.

The Bravettes improved to 4-2 in Western AA and 9-5 overall.

Hellgate 22 11 8 4 5 - 50

Flathead 10 12 17 6 10 - 55

HELLGATE (2-6, 4-10) - Raina Walther 0-2 0-0 0, Piper Frame 1-1 0-0 2, Brooke Raunig 3-8 0-0 7, Rachel Gearheart 3-9 2-2 8, Mary Yoder 3-8 0-0 6, Catelyn Lower 6-14 2-7 16, Katy Gannon 0-0 0-0 0, Kailee Bruskotter 1-1 0-0 2, Kirsten Vaculik 3-3 3-3 9. Totals 20-46 7-12 50.

FLATHEAD (4-2, 9-5) - Shaina Evans 1-3 0-0 2, Kali Radel 1-3 0-0 3, Kendalyn Habel 11-29 3-6 25, Ally Krautbauer 0-0 1-4 1, Meghan O'Connell 4-14 6-6 15, Ashley Younkin 0-2 2-4 2, Ashley Brown 0-0 1-4 1, Kaylyn Heaton 3-10 0-1 6. Totals 20-61 13-25 55.

3-point goals - Hlgt. 3-6 (Lower 2-6, Gearheart 1-1), Flt. 1-15 (Radel 1-3). Rebounds - Hlgt. 37 (Vaculik 14, Yoder 12, Lower 6, team 2, three with 1), Flt. 35 (Heaton 9, O'Connell 7, Habel 7, Brown 6, Evans 2, Younkin 2, team 2). Assists - Hlgt. 7 (Lower 4, two with 1), Flt. 5 (Habel 2, three with 1). Steals - Hlgt. 7 (Raunig 2, Gearheart 2, Yoder 2, Lower), Flt. 16 (Habel 4, Younkin 4, O'Connell 2, Brown 2, Heaton 2, Evans, Krautbauer). Blocks - Hlgt. 1 (Vaculik), Flt. 0. Turnovers - Hlgt. 33, Flt. 15. Total fouls - Hlgt. 21, Flt. 15. Fouled out - Lower.