Bravettes rebound for second win of season

The Flathead Bravettes didn’t take the most direct route to their second win of the season on Thursday, but they have to like the way they rebounded.

As in, owning a 39-30 bulge on the boards, led by Molly Winters’ 10 rebounds and six more from Bridget Crowley; and as in blowing the visitors away after spotting them a 12-2 lead.

The final was 48-31, Flathead, but the game was over by halftime.

“We just have to settle into the games and we’ll be OK,” said Flathead coach Sam Tudor, who called time after Averi Batt, Grace Denham and Corbyn Sandau combined on four Big Sky 3-pointers in the first 4 minutes and change. “I was pretty vocal: I told them just do what we’ve been practicing.

“Big Sky can shoot, and they’re coached to shoot. And we knew that, and for some reason we were just out of sync.”

Flathead (2-5) answered with a three from senior Kuyra Siegel, sparking what turned out to be a 30-5 Bravette run.

Winters had eight of her team-high 12 points in the first quarter while Flathead closed to 12-11. Crowley scored six straight points, including a put-back at 4:35 of the second quarter, to give the Bravettes the lead for good, 17-13.

“She’s our top rebounder,” Winters said of her fellow senior, Crowley. “And we really need them. She got put-backs and everything.”

Crowley ended with 10 points; she and Winters combined to shoot 10-for-16 from the floor. Siegel, the third senior, had nine points. She hit both Flathead 3-pointers, with her second making it 32-17 at intermission.

“After Kuyra hit that (first) three I knew we were in business,” Tudor said. “Because that was when those seniors took the wheel a little bit, and steered us in the right direction.

“You can say great things about all those seniors tonight — they all had great games.”

The second half was rocky, and Flathead committed nine third-quarter turnovers against pressure. Trouble was the Eagles (1-7) couldn’t take advantage, scoring just five points. Winters’ bucket off a Clare Converse dish and Akilah Kubi’s steal and layup made it 43-27 with 3:23 remaining in the game.

“I feel like we should have played better defense at the beginning so we would have had the whole 32 minutes,” said Winters. “But it happened. I thought our defense after that was really good. We stole the ball and got a lot of rebounds.

“It’s very nice to get a win.”

Flathead travels to play Missoula Sentinel Saturday.

Sandau had 10 points to lead the Eagles.

Big Sky 12 5 5 9 - 31

Flathead 11 21 2 14 - 48

MISSOULA BIG SKY (1-7) - Averi Batt 2 0-1 5, Grace Denman 1 2-2 5, Olivia Fichtner 0 0-0 0, Audrey Hale 2 1-2 5, Corbyn Sandau 2 6-10 12, Keara Burgess 0 0-0 0, Kylie Johnson 1 1-2 4. Totals 8 10-17 31.

FLATHEAD (2-5) - Akilah Kubi 1 1-3 3, Bridget Crowley 5 0-1 10, Molly Winters 5 2-4 12, Kuyra Siegel 3 1-2 9, Clare Converse 2 1-5 5, Maddy Moy 1 0-2 2, Kennedy Moore 2 3-5 7, Avery Chouinard 0 0-0 0, Tali Miller 0 0-0 0, Macy Craver 0 0-0 0, Ivy Gannon 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 8-22 48.

3-point goals - Big Sky 5 (Sandau 2, Batt, Johnson, Denman), Flathead 2 (Siegel 2). Fouls - Big Sky 19, Flathead 19. Fouled out - Kubi. Rebounds - Big Sky 30 (Batt 11), Flathead 39 (Winters 10). Steals - Big Sky 4 (Sandau 2), Flathead 12 (5 with 2). Blocks - Big Sky 0, Flathead 3 (Kubi 2, Winters). Turnovers - Big Sky 17, Flathead 18.