Bravettes top Bruins, earn first trip to State since 2013
HELENA — State tournament-bound are the Flathead Bravettes, who pushed away from a 21-all tie late in the third quarter and downed Helena Capital 41-32 in the semifinals of the Western AA Divisional.
Maddy Moy and Kennedy Moore scored 11 points each for Flathead (16-4), while Akliah Kubi and Clare Converse spearheaded a defense that held the two-time defending AA champs to 33 percent shooting.
The Bravettes will play Missoula Hellgate (19-1) for the championship at 8 p.m. Saturday at Carroll College. The Knights topped Helena 53-23 in the early semifinal.
“The kids are so excited right now,” second-year coach Sam Tudor. “They’ve earned it and I”m ust really happy that they got this opportunity.
“That’s going to be fun for us, to play in a championship. That’s a big moment for this program.”
The Bravettes hadn’t made State since 2013, and they’ve done it this year with one senior, Converse, in the lineup. She had eight points, five rebounds and a pair of steals.
Kubi didn’t score but snared four rebounds, blocked a shot and had two steals.
“Just having Akilah on the court the whole time really helped our defense,” said Tudor, whose squad plays an active zone. “We put a lot on her to control the middle, and she can do it.”
Flathead led 5-0 after one quarter, 14-10 at halftime and 19-10 before the Bruins (13-7) fought back.
Capital’s Jada Clarkson, who had a game-high 13 points, hit a three to knot the score at 21-all. After a timeout, Moore untied it with a three of her own at the 2:20 mark.
Soon it was 28-21, after Ivy Gannon and Avery Chounard scored on cuts to the hoop. Moore hit two free throws with 4:22 left in the game to make it 33-25.
“Her game was just big,” Tudor said of the 6-foot-1 sophomore, who also had seven rebounds. “That (three) was what kind of got us back, and woke us up again.”
Moy hit a three as part of a nine-point fourth quarter for Flathead. She hit a breakaway layup at 2:25 and two free throws with 1:12 left to push the lead to 39-28.
“She shows up seemingly right when we need her,” Tudor said. “Great timing. But I could talk about every one of those girls that played tonight. They did a great job of just exciting the game plan and not panicking.”
Capital 0 10 11 11 - 32
Flathead 5 9 12 15 - 41
HELENA CAPITAL — Jada Clarkson 5-10 2-3 13, Kathryn Emmert 0-2 0-0 0, Rachel Stacey 2-8 0-0 4, Parklyn Heller 1-3 1-2 3, Megan Swanson 3-10 0-0 8, Taylor Sayers 1-4 0-0 2, Kayla Almquist 1-2 0-0 2, Brady Carlson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 13-40 3-5 32.
FLATHEAD — Maddy Moy 3-9 4-6 11, Akilah Kubi 0-4 0-3 0, Kennedy Moore 3-7 4-7 11, Clare Converse 4-9 0-0 8, Avery Chouinard 2-6 0-0 5, Ivy Gannon 3-4 0-0 6. Totals 15-39 8-16 41.
3-point goals — Capital 3-21 (Swanson 2-7, Clarkson 1-5), Flathead 3-10 (Moore 1-2, Moy 1-2, Chouinard 1-4). Rebounds — Capital 26 (Stacey 8), Flahtead 30 (Moore 7). Fouls — Capital 14, Flathead 9. Assists — Capital 6 (2 with 2), Flathead 10 (Moy 5). Blocks — Capital 1 (Heller, Flathead 1 (Kubi). Steals — Capital 5 (Clarkson 2), Flathead 9 (Moy 3). Turnovers — Capital 12, Flathead 8.
Hellgate 59, Helena 29
Bailee Sayler scored 18 points and Keke Davis added 12 for the Knights, who led 29-9 at halftime.
The pair also combined on 14 rebounds, while 6-foot-5 teammate Alex Covill added six points, seven boards and a pair of blocked shots.
Alex Bullock scored nine points and grabbed four boards for the Bengals (11-9), who take on Butte in a loser-out game Saturday at 11 a.m. Helena shot just under 20 percent (8-for-41) from the field.