Flathead grinds by Glacier

By JOSEPH TERRY

The Daily Inter Lake

The Flathead girls shook of seven years of frustration on Thursday night, locking down Glacier late to knock off their crosstown rivals for the first time in 14 meetings, beating the Wolfpack 39-34 in a Western AA conference basketball game at Flathead High School.

The Bravettes seniors, winless in their careers against the Wolfpack, led the charge.

Kylee Meredith scored 20 points in the win, setting the pace for the game early and clinching it late with a four free throws.

Tiana Johnson was held unusually quiet in the win, but scored the final two points for Flathead (9-10 overall, 4-7 Western AA), a pair of free throws with 11 seconds remaining to put the game out of reach.

However, it was Bravettes senior Sierra Siblerud that turned the tides. She didn’t record a shot in the first 28 minutes of play, but with Flathead beginning to build momentum on a 4-0 run midway through the fourth quarter, Siblerud pulled the trigger from deep when the Glacier defense sagged into the post.

Siblerud’s fourth 3-pointer of the season gave Flathead a 33-32 lead, its first since leading 18-17 midway through the third, and spurred a 13-2 run to close the game and give the Bravettes the win.

“I think she’s shot 10 3-pointers all year,” Bravettes coach Tricia Dean said. “Good for her shooting with confidence, knocking it down. That was a huge turning point for us.”

Meredith opened the game strong, hitting a pair of 3-pointers to give Flathead a 6-0 lead.

“Going into the game I wanted to be confident,” Meredith said. “My shots have been falling at practice this week, so I knew coming in that I was going to look to score. When I hit that first shot I knew it was going to be a good shooting game for me.”

The Bravettes rolled out to an 8-3 lead five minutes in, but hit a scoring lull as Glacier’s defense began to settle in.

The Wolfpack scored six straight points to take the lead early in the second quarter, but both teams struggled from the field in the frame. Flathead retook the lead from the free-throw line, hitting all six of its free throws in the quarter to pull ahead 14-11. The Wolfpack cut the lead back to one point before half with the only field goal of the second quarter, a driving floater from Ellie Stevens.

Just as she did to start the first, Meredith opened the second half with a 3-pointer, but the Bravettes lost their rhythm for the rest of the quarter.

Glacier took advantage, driving the ball into the post where it took advantage of its size, rolling off a 11-0 run to take a 24-18 lead in the closing minute of the third quarter.

Meredith brought the juice back to the packed crowd, however, bouncing in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the Glacier lead to 24-21 with eight minutes to play.

Relative to the slow pace that was played to start the game, the teams exploded in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter.

Glacier extended its lead to 32-26 on a Kali Gulick hook in the post with 4:44 left, but Flathead turned the momentum shortly after.

Gillespie worked her way to the line twice, sinking four free throws to cut the lead to 32-30 and, on the next possession, Johnson led the break and dropped off a pass for Siblerud, who took her chance and gave Flathead the lead with a contested 3.

Glacier missed a pair of free throws that would have retook the lead and Flathead began to play keep away after a timeout with 1:24 remaining.

In the double bonus, Meredith hit a set of free throws with 50 seconds left to extend the Bravettes advantage to three points, then another pair eight seconds later to push it to five.

“It was a little nerve-wracking, I’m not going to lie,” Meredith said. “I had a lot of encouragement from my coaches and my teammates this week. Once I let go, I knew it was going in.”

Johnson sealed the deal with 11 seconds left, and as Glacier rushed the other direction to try and score anything, Stevens put back a layup with no time left to close the final score to 39-34.

It’s the first win for Flathead in the series since Feb. 26, 2010, a span that stretched 14 games.

“It feels amazing,” Meredith said. “There’s not really a good word to describe it. I’m ecstatic right now.”

Meredith’s 20 points were a game high.

Nikki Krueger led Glacier with 11 points.

“We played hard,” Glacier coach Bill Sullivan said. “It was a good game. That’s what crosstown is all about. We came out and were physical and got after it defensively. Down the stretch, when you needed to make plays, they made more than we did.”

The win temporarily bumps Flathead into a tie for fifth place in the conference with Missoula Hellgate (7-12, 4-7), which lost 56-41 to Helena High on Thursday. Should the Bravettes beat top-ranked Missoula Sentinel on Saturday, or should both teams lose, the Bravettes would likely win a tiebreaker over the Knights. Hellgate closes its season Saturday at home against Helena Capital (12-7, 6-5).

Glacier (7-13, 5-7) is solidly in the fourth seed after the Hellgate loss and a Capital win, and should that stand, would host either Hellgate or Flathead in a playoff game next week.

Glacier 7 6 11 10 — 34

Flathead 8 6 7 18 — 39

GLACIER — Ellie Stevens 2 4-4 8, Cadie Williams 0 0-3 0, Ahna Kreitinger 2, Brynn McChesney 1 0-0 2, Nikki Krueger 4 2-2 11, Anna Schrade 1 3-4 5, Kali Gulick 3 0-2 6. Totals: 11 11-17 34.

FLATHEAD — Kylee Meredith 5 6-8 20, Averie Olson 0 2-2 2, Mary Heaton 0 0-2 0, Sierra Siblerud 1 0-0 3, Kelsey Gillespie 1 4-4 6, Allie Gagnon 0 2-4 2, Taylor Henley 1 0-0 2, Tiana Johnson 0 4-4 4. Totals: 8 18-24 39.

3-point goals—Glacier 1 (Krueger), Flathead 5 (Meredith 4, Siblerud). Total fouls—Glacier 21, Flathead 17. Fouled out—Williams, Gulick.