Bravettes' valiant effort falls just short

Senior Kendalyn Habel scores career-high 35 points for Flathead

GREAT FALLS - Thursday's 10:30 a.m. Class AA state girls' basketball matchup featuring Flathead and Butte was far from a snoozer.

Despite being dealt a tipoff time better suited for a Sunday breakfast brunch, this first-round contest turned out to be a real treat for a small early session crowd in the spacious Four Seasons Arena.

The Bravettes, Western AA's No. 4 seed, and the Bulldogs, Eastern AA's top team, battled through nine ties with Butte eventually hanging on for a hard-fought 72-68 victory.

"Even at the end, right to the last second, I thought it would happen," Flathead coach Kim Elliott said of the Bravettes pulling this one out.

"We were right there.

"I told one of my assistant coaches that it would take 72 (points) to win this game." Elliott added.

"Turned out it was just the wrong color (Butte's purple doing it)."

Flathead drops into a loser-out contest today at 9 a.m. with Missoula Sentinel while Butte advances to tonight's semifinal with Billings West.

Flathead workhorse Kendalyn Habel, a 5-foot-7 senior, came through with a career-high 35 points to keep the Bravettes within reach. Her previous high was 27, which she managed to hit three times this season.

"It was a great game," Butte coach Jeff Arntson said.

"We knew all about Kalispell's Kendalyn Habel. She had an All-American type of game. Everything we did (to stop her), she just adjusted to it. Everything she threw up went in."

Habel showed her offensive versatility by scoring from all points on the floor, knocking down a couple of threes, going head-to-head with a much taller Butte team in the paint, and shooting with deadly accuracy from the free throw line (17-for-21).

She logged nearly 31 minutes of playing time before fouling out with nine seconds to go.

"Tired," Habel said of how she felt after a very fast-paced and physical opening half.

"At halftime, we were all pretty tired. They were a very quick team."

Habel's best offensive quarters were the second, 13 points, and fourth, 15.

She had four points in the first eight minutes and three points in the third quarter.

Arntson said the Bulldogs played man, tried different individual matchups on Habel and even went to a zone in an effort to slow her down.

Habel scored 13-straight points in a four-minute stretch of the fourth quarter. She went 8-for-10 at the charity stripe, nailed a key trey and then followed a steal with a forced jumper that found nothing but net to get the Bravettes within four, 65-61, with 1:23 to play.

Senior standout Megan O'Connell followed with a field goal, was fouled, and made the free throw as the Bravettes (13-9) were now within one, 65-64, with 64 seconds left.

It was all free throws from that point on for Butte.

Brianne Holland-Stergar went 3-for-4 on two trips to the line to push the Bulldog (20-1) advantage to 68-64.

Habel followed with her final two points, both free throws, with 35 seconds left, keeping Flathead within two, 68-66.

Twelve seconds later, Brianne McClafferty added two more free throws for another four-point edge, 70-66.

But back came the Bravettes one final time.

Kaylyn Heaton pulled down a missed shot by O'Connell and followed with a big basket to keep the Bravettes two down, 70-68, with 12.3 seconds remaining.

Butte's Lexie Nelson missed her first free throw, but followed with her second attempt to make it a three-point game, 71-68, with nine seconds left.

Flathead then missed a game-tying trey with one second to go and Nelson completed the scoring with less than a second showing by going 1-for-2 at the line.

Nelson, thanks to a big second half, finished with 24 points to lead a balanced Bulldog offense. The 5-7 sophomore guard was limited to six points in the first 16 minutes.

McClafferty added 13, Holland-Sterger 11 and Joey O'Neill 10.

O'Connell finished with 13 points.

The Bravettes shot 70 percent at the free-throw line (26-for-37). Butte shot 71 percent (20-for-28).

"It was a very physical game," Arntson said.

"Kalispell likes to get to the free throw line."

So physical that in the first half, Flathead's Ashley Younkin and Kali Radel both left the game with bloody noses.

The Bulldogs did a better job controlling the inside in the second half, and wound up outrebounding Flathead 42-32.

O'Neill had nine rebounds for Butte. Heaton pulled down a game-high 10, Habel had seven and Ally Krautbauer six.

Flathead's biggest lead was five points, 27-22 and 33-27. Butte's was 10, 49-39.

West opened the tournament Thursday with a 53-41 victory over Missoula Sentinel.

Flathead 16 17 11 24 - 68

Butte 16 19 18 19 - 72

FLATHEAD (13-9) - Habel 8-18 17-21 35, Krautbauer 1-5 5-9 7, O'Connell 4-12 3-3 13, Younkin 1-2 0-0 2, Heaton 3-9 0-2 6, Evans 1-2 0-0 2, Radel 1-5 0-0 2, Anderson 0-0 1-2 1, Brown 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-53 26-37 68.

BUTTE (20-1) -Nelson 8-19 7-10 24, McCloskey 1-4 4-4 6, McClafferty 5-11 2-2 13, Abbott 3-7 0-2 6, O'Neill 4-9 2-2 10, Peterson 0-0 0-0 0, Robinson 1-2 0-0 2, Holland-Stergar 3-7 5-8 11. Totals 25-59 20-28 72.

3-point goals-Flathead 4-13 (Habel 2-5, O'Connell 2-5, Radel 0-3), Butte 2-10 (Nelson 1-4, McClafferty 1-5, Robinson 0-1). Fouled out-Habel, Abbott. Total fouls-Flathead 20, Butte 25.