Bravettes come up short, again

The Daily Inter Lake

GREAT FALLS - It just wasn't meant to be for the Flathead Bravette basketball team.

The Bravettes bowed out of the Class AA state tournament Friday morning with a 48-46 loss to Missoula Sentinel.

"We just came out really, really flat," said Flathead coach Kim Elliott.

"The game against Butte (in the opening round) just took our legs out," he said.

"We had an incredible game against Butte. But it just wasn't meant to be."

To Flathead's credit, the Bulldogs barely eked out a 46-44 win over Billings West in the semifinal.

"We ran (the Bulldogs) into the ground. They lucked out," Elliott said of Butte.

The Bravettes dug themselves a 17-4 hole to start Friday's game.

That sparked a bit of a timeout tirade by the coach. The team responded to the chewing out by closing the gap to two points at the half.

"We were flat. We weren't there, but they really stepped up," the coach said.

"We had to claw our way back up and keep attacking. We got back in it with a full court press. That worked well."

By the end of the third quarter, the Bravettes led 37-32.

"But they were smart enough to try an uptempo game," Elliott said.

The Bravettes ran out of gas and the Spartans outscored Flathead 16-9 in the final frame.

"They worked very hard and they never quit. But there were a couple things, a couple turnovers, a couple rebounds, that we just didn't get," the coach said.

There was one shot with about two minutes left that would have tied the game for Flathead.

"The ol' ball just bounced back out," he said.

Kendalyn Habel led the Bravettes with 16 points. Kaylyn Heaton added four points and 11 rebounds.

Elliott and the Bravettes will be starting over next year as Flathead graduates eight seniors from the 2007-08 squad.

"There will be lots of opportunities for girls coming in as freshmen next year. This is the start of building a new basketball program," Elliott said.

Flathead 6 19 12 9 - 46

Missoula Sentinel 17 10 5 16 - 48

KALISPELL FLATHEAD (13-10) - Habel 4-21 6-11 16, Krautbauer 1-5 3-4 5, O'Connell 2-10 0-2 6, Younkin 3-4 3-4 9, Heaton 0-3 4-5 4, Evans 1-4 2-2 4, Radel 0-1 0-0 0, Brown 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 12-49 20-28 46.

MISSOULA SENTINEL (16-6) - Cole 1-2 1-2 3, Eisenmann 4-10 0-6 8, Hasquet 2-9 0-0 6, Powers 6-14 0-0 14, Garland 1-4 0-0 2, Kavran 2-3 0-0 4, Rubie 2-6 7-10 11. Totals 18-48 8-18 48.

3-point goals-Flathead 2-12 (O'Connell 2-6, Younkin 0-1, Habel 0-5), Sentinel 4-13 (Powers 2-2, Hasquet 2-6, Cole 0-1, Kavran 0-1, Eisenmann 0-2). Fouled out-Krautbauer, Hasquet. Total fouls-Flathead 16, Sentinel 23. Rebounds-Flathead 39 (Heaton 11), Sentinel 42 (Eisenmann 10).