CMR pulls away late, downs Flathead, 48-34
Flathead's Sadie Wilson looks to dribble around the defense of C.M. Russell's Tess Halverson. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead's Mary Heaton looks to shoot in front of C.M. Russell defender J.J. Slater during the first half. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead's Mary Heaton looks to shoot in front of C.M. Russell defenders J.J. Slater (13) and Tess Halverson (21) during the first half. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead's Taylor Henley looks to shoot in front of C.M. Russell defender Allie Olsen during the first half. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead's Mary Heaton pulls up for two points in the first half against C.M. Russell. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead's Mary Heaton goes to the hoop with C.M. Russell's Allie Olsen defending. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead's Taylor Henley puts in two points surrounded by C.M. Russell defenders during the first half. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead's Taylor Henley puts in two points surrounded by C.M. Russell defenders during the first half. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead's Mary Heaton looks to the hoop with C.M. Russell's Allie Olsen defending. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead's Mary Heaton looks for a shot against C.M. Russell defender Kylie Allen. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead's Clara Vandenbosch takes the ball upcourt against the defense of C.M. Russell's Kayci Edwards. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead's Taylor Henley goes to the hoop with C.M. Russell's Brynn Klinefelter defending. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
For three quarters on Friday night, Great Falls CMR seemingly controlled the game but couldn’t quite shake a pesky Flathead squad.
The fourth was a different story entirely.
The Rustlers, utilizing a full-court press for much of the second half, outscored the Bravettes 12-3 in the final quarter to run away with a 48-34 win in what was previously a tightly contested season opener for both girls basketball teams at Flathead High School.
“They threw that press on us, and we didn’t handle it very well,” Flathead head coach Tricia Dean said. “We kind of got into a rush, and I just felt like we weren’t making the best decisions breaking that press, and that kind of hurt us. Then it was kind of like turnover central for a while there.”
A pair of seniors provided nearly all of the offense for Flathead (0-1).
Mary Heaton led the Bravettes in the post with 18 points. Clara Vandenbosch added 12 points.
“(Heaton) was aggressive,” Dean said. “She was getting rebounds and put-backs. She was going strong to the hole off the dribble. I was really pleased with her.”
Aside from Heaton and Vandenbosch, though, Flathead struggled to manufacture offense.
Only two other players made it into the scorebook — Taylor Henley and Kaysie Malmin with two points apiece.
“In the first half, I thought our offense looked really good and our movement looked really good,” Dean said. “I thought that definitely went down when the press got on, and that can’t happen.”
Even so, the offense provided by Heaton and Vandenbosch allowed Flathead to hang around for the majority of the contest.
CMR (1-0) raced out to an 8-0 lead in the first quarter, but Flathead responded with a 10-3 run to draw within a point. It was as close as the Bravettes would get to the lead.
The Rustlers stretched their lead to nine at one point in the second quarter, but Flathead answered once again with a 7-1 run that ended with a deep 3 from Vandenbosch at the halftime buzzer.
The trey was one of three Vandenbosch connected on in the game, as she provided an outside shooting threat to complement Heaton’s work in the paint.
“With Taylor and Mary working inside and having that strong post presence, it’s a litle bit different from what we had last year,” Dean said.
“(Vandenbosch) kind of started off slow, but then really found her groove there in the second and third quarter and started to shoot really well. That was awesome.”
Flathead managed to keep its deficit at five entering the fourth quarter, but not much went right down the stretch.
Neither team cracked the scoreboard for nearly four minutes to begin the fourth, but CMR scored three buckets in rapid succession to pull away as the Flathead offense, hampered further by three players in foul trouble, sputtered as the end neared.
“Our intensity went down a little bit on defense in the third quarter, which I was a little disappointed with,” Dean said.
“I thought we picked it up again in the fourth quarter, so that was nice to see that at least we bounced back.”
Flathead will look to rebound from its season-opening defeat in a trip to Great Falls High at 4:30 p.m. today.
CMR 11 12 13 12 — 48
Flathead 8 12 11 3 — 34
CMR — Breanna Johns 1, Allie Olsen 6, Tess Halverson 1, Kayli Edwards 2, Addison Gardner 12, Kyra Willis 13, Brynn Klinefellen 11, Kiely Gunderson 2.
FLATHEAD — Kaysie Malmin 2, Mary Heaton 18, Clara Vandenbosch 12, Taylor Henley 2.