Bravettes come oh so close

So close.

The first win of the 2008-09 basketball season agonizingly near for the Flathead Bravettes.

One more rebound, one more basket, one less foul, one less turnover.

Any of those would have tipped the final scoreboard in Flathead's favor Thursday night.

With 2:23 left in a makeup game with the Great Falls Bison, the Bravettes held an 8-point lead and had three fouls to give.

With 36 seconds left, they still led by four points.

But Great Falls' Erika Jenkins scored five points - including a 3-pointer - in the final 27 seconds and Great Falls slipped past the Bravettes, 50-48.

"We saw the youth in the last couple of minutes," Flathead coach Kim Elliott said of the Bravettes.

"Their girl Jenkins, she put it in when they had to have it. We lost sight of her," Elliott said.

Flathead had one last chance.

There were still seven seconds on the clock, but Flathead turned the ball over.

"We coughed the ball up. We got excited," the coach said.

But he also believes this game can be a foundation for the Bravettes.

"We were there. We will build on this," he said.

Flathead (0-6) led much of the game - with the exception of two second-quarter ties, the Bravettes were up the entire first half. They led 26-19 at the intermission.

But Great Falls wasn't about to back down, and Elliott knew it.

"I commend Great Falls," he said.

Right before the second half began, Elliott turned to assistant coach Karly Tait and said 'we'll see if they've got the cobwebs out of their legs.'

They did.

The Bison got a great start on the third quarter, outscoring Flathead 10-2 in the first 3:46.

Great Falls took its first lead of the game with 5:10 left in the third quarter. From there, the contest see-sawed.

The Bison built a 5-point advantage, only to watch it slip away as Flathead's Kelsey Hildal get untracked with seven points over a 3-minute period.

Hildal led the Bravettes with 19-points and freshman Tess Brenneman added a season-high 14 and sophomore post Danika Johnson contributed her season-high with 12.

"We need that from Danika every night," the coach said.

As for the freshman Brenneman … "this was a breakout game for Tess," Elliott said.

Brenneman scored eight of her 14 in the first quarter.

"She set the tone for us early. Her defense and then taking the pressure off Kelsey, this sets the future for Tess as a Bravette. She knows now what it feels like to play well in AA … and she really, really wants to win. They all do," he said.

"We're very young. But we're growing up fast," Elliott said. "We've got girls that don't even have driver's licenses. We have girls that aren't allowed to date."

"It's going to be an up and down roller coaster, but they are enjoying the game of basketball. They want to get better and they are asking the right questions," he said.

Great Falls 9 10 18 13 - 50

Flathead 14 12 7 15 - 48

Great Falls - Brittany Kumm 8, Sarah Schermele 2, Jauna Anderson 9, Morgan Lee 5, Kristen Hering 2, Erika Jenkins 20, Beki Schultz 4. Totals 21 5-11 50.

Flathead - Kelsey Hildal 19, Ariel Johnson 3, Danika Johnson 12, Tess Brenneman 14. Totals 14 17-29 48.

3-point goals: Great Falls 3 (Kumm, Schermele, Jenkins), Flathead 3 (Hildal 3). Total fouls: Great Falls 21, Flathead 14. Fouled out: Ariel Johnson.