Lady Bruins bomb Bravettes
Flathead Bravettes senior forward Ariel Johnson keeps Helena Capital guard Caity Pilgeram (12) at bay during the first half of Friday's game at Flathead. Allison Money/Daily Inter Lake
It's pretty simple, really.
The No. 3-ranked Helena Capital Lady Bruins can flat out shoot the basketball.
Capital (14-3, 8-1) made 10 3-pointers en route to a 64-23 Western AA win Friday night over the Flathead Bravettes (1-16, 1-8).
"What can you do when a team shoots 64 percent in the second half, 57 percent on the 3s and 100 percent from the free throw line (in the second half)?" asked Flathead coach Kim Elliott.
"That's a pretty good return on your investment," he said.
"That's what we knew they would do. (Sammi) Bignell and (Kelsi) Brekke, they shoot 3s. That's their game," he added.
"We were flat and could not get it going and they were on top of their game. I didn't see a kink in their armor tonight."
Bignell and Brekke did shoot 3s - they had 2 and 3, respectively. But the rest of the Bruins got into the act, too. Mary Donna Ternes and Jordan Johnston had two 3-pointers each, and Caity Pilgeram also had one.
Brekke led the Bruins with 16 points, but Johnston added 15, and Bignell and Ternes contributed 10 each.
"Boy, Jordan Johnston had a huge game. (Bruins coach) Bill (Pilgeram) has got to be happy with that," Elliott said.
It took Capital just 90 seconds to get a lead it would never relinquish.
Flathead's Danika Johnson made the first bucket of the game, but Bignell hit back-to-back 3-pointers to open for the Bruins.
Ternes and Brekke added one each in the middle of the first quarter and Capital's advantage was 20-6 at period's end.
The Bruins led 38-12 at the half and 60-18 after three quarters.
The clock ran continously from the 2:31 mark of the third quarter due to the 40-point mercy rule.
Flathead was led by Johnson with seven points. Older sister Ariel contributed six points.
The Bravette's leading scorer, Kelsey Hildal, added five points, despite getting few looks.
"(The Bruins' did a good job junking up the game on Kelsey," Elliott said.
Helena Capital 20 18 22 4
Flathead 6 6 6 5 - 23
Helena Capital - Kalli Heller 1 0-0 2, Sammi Bignell 4 0-0 10, Kelsie Brekke 5 3-3 16, Caity Pilgeram 1 0-0 3, Mary Donna Ternes 2 4-4 10, Kaci Matthies 1 0-0 2, Jordan Johnston 5 3-7 15, Courtney Hauck 1 0-0 2, Mary Miller 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 12-16 64.
Flathead - Kelsey Hildal 2 0-0 5, Ariel Johnson 3 0-0 6, Annie Cronk 0 1-1 1, Danika Johnson 2 3-5 7, Tess Brenneman 0 4-4 4. Totals 7 8-10 23.
3-point goals: Capital 10 (Bignell 2, Brekke 3, Pilgeram 1, Ternes 2, Johnston 2), Flathead 1 (Hildal); Total fouls: Capital 14, Flathead 13; Fouled out: None.