Sentinel escapes with win

Ever so close.

Midway through the fourth quarter in Thursday’s Western AA girl’s basketball game, the Flathead Bravettes had the Missoula Sentinel Spartans on the ropes.

With Flathead trailing by five points, sophomore Brittany Earnest hit her second 3-pointer of the game (and the quarter) to pull the Bravettes within a bucket.

The Spartans (6-2) managed to slip away and claim a 40-34 victory, but not before Flathead thoroughly frightened them.

Earnest led the Bravettes with 10 points, followed by Danika Johnson with seven points and 10 rebounds. Tess Brenneman contributed six rebounds, six assists and six points as well as four steals.

“It was just a lot better than it has been,” said Flathead coach Karly Tait.

“We shot better free throws (8-for-10). Shooting percentage still needs to get better, but we’re just one step closer. I thought we were 10 times better than the last time we played them. I thought we played better than we did against Glacier and Hellgate.

“We’re going to get there. It’s just going to take more time,” she said.

“We need to be more patient offensively and we still need to do a better job taking care of the ball and being more confident in our shooting ... but other than that, I really don’t have too many complaints. I thought that was one of our better games of the year,” she said.

“I’m happy. It would have been nicer if it was a win ... but I’m happy.”

She gave compliments to Earnest for her play.

“Brittany was under control, pulling it back on the fast break when she needed to, taking it to them when she needed to. She hit a couple bit threes for us.

“But I thought everybody contributed,” the coach said.

The Bravettes went young — at one point in the second half, there were three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior on the court.

The freshmen “give us some size, which is really crucial — especially at the AA level. Sentinel isn’t overly big, but just having a hand up (can make someone hesitate),” Tait said.

“I really thought the biggest thing tonight was that we cranked up our defensive intensity and that was key.

“We knew (the Spartans) were going to go to (Bryn) Hasquet for 3-point shooting — and she did hit a couple — but for the most part, I thought our zone was communicating and getting out to where we needed to be,” she said.

Flathead gave Sentinel a good run on the scoreboard and on the stat sheet.

Both teams struggled with their shooting. The Spartans shot 29 percent for the game while Flathead was at 26 percent.

Sentinel had just one more rebound than Flathead, and had 11 turnovers to 16 for the Bravettes. Blocked shots and steals were even. Each team blocked one shot and each had nine steals.

The teams were tied after the first period. Sentinel slipped ahead in the waning moments of the second period to go up 21-15 and led 27-19 after three quarters.

The Bravettes closed the gap in the fourth — Earnest hit her two 3-pointers in the first 2 1/2 minutes, but others contributed as well. Johnson scored four points in the period and Brenneman three.

Sentinel’s Bryn Hasquet led all scorers with 19 points.

Sentinel     7     14    6    13 — 40

Flathead     7     8    4     15 — 34

Sentinel — McCall Hasquet 2 2-3 6, Bryn Hasquet 5 4-4 19, Kate Patenaude 1 1-2 4, Amanda Davis 0 3-4 3, DJ Reinhardt 4 0-1 7. Totals 22 11-18 40.

Flathead — Sam Thompson 1 1-1 3, Tess Brenneman 2 2-4 6, Megan Jones 1 2-2 4, Brittany Earnest 3 2-2 10, Cassie Krueger 2 0-0 4, Danika Johnson 3 1-1 7. Totals 12 8-10 34.

3-point goals: Sentinel 5 (B. Hasquet 3, Patenaude 1 Reinhardt 1), Flathead 2 (Earnest 2); Total fouls: Sentinel 9, Flathead 15. Fouled out: Earnest.