Bravettes bowl over Big Sky
Flathead senior Allie Gagnon pulls down a rebound during the second quarter of the Bravettes' 43-29 win over Missoula Big Sky at Flathead on Tuesday. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead senior Tiana Johnson sinks a shot during the first quarter against Missoula Big Sky on Tuesday. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)
By JOSEPH TERRY
The Daily Inter Lake
After shaking off the rust of a week without playing, Flathead found its form and picked up its first Western AA conference win of the season in a 43-29 victory over Big Sky in a girls basketball game on Tuesday night at Flathead High School.
Flathead (1-2 Western AA, 6-5 overall), which hadn’t played since a Jan. 14 road loss to Helena High, took a while to get back into game speed in the first quarter, scoring one basket in the first four minutes of play. Once the Bravettes got into a groove, they found their range quickly, outscoring Big Sky 11-4 in the final 3:14 of the first to take a 13-6 lead after eight minutes.
Playing tight defense early in the second quarter, Flathead expanded its lead to 11 points three minutes into the frame and held to take a 24-15 halftime lead.
The Bravettes went on a 7-0 run late in the third quarter, closed out by a 3-pointer from Tiana Johnson, to push the lead out to 15 points before a Big Sky basket narrowed the score to 35-22 entering the fourth quarter.
Big Sky (0-3, 2-8) rallied in the final frame, cutting the lead to 38-29 with 3:16 to play, but couldn’t get any closer as Flathead closed out the win at the free-throw line.
“A little rusty after a full week off,” Bravettes coach Tricia Dean said. “We weren’t quite executing as well as I would’ve liked to see and our defensive intensity was a little off, but I thought we picked it up as we went through the game and got better as we went on.”
Johnson had 15 points and six rebounds and Kylee Meredith had 12 points and three assists to lead Flathead.
“It was good to go out and play,” Johnson said. “We have finals tomorrow, so we kept it short, but it feels good to finally get a conference win.”
Kelsi McEnaney had a team-high 13 points for Big Sky.
After working through final exams the next few days, the Bravettes are off the court until a Saturday meeting at Missoula Hellgate (1-1, 4-6).
Big Sky 6 9 7 7 — 29
Flathead 13 11 11 8 — 43
BIG SKY — Megan Sweeney 3 0-0 6, Chelsea Todd 0 1-2 1, Kelsi McEnaney 6 1-1 13, Julia Riekena 2 3-6 7, Mia Sandau 1 0-0 2. Totals: 12 5-9 29.
FLATHEAD — Kylee Meredith 4 2-2 12, Mary Heaton 1 2-2 4, Kelsey Gillespie 4 1-2 10, Allie Gagnon 1 0-0 2, Tiana Johnson 6 2-2 15. Totals: 16 7-8 43.
3-point goals—Big Sky 0, Flathead 4 (Meredith 2, Gillespie, Johnson). Total fouls—Big Sky 13, Flathead 11. Fouled out—Riekena.