Chouinard, Bravettes heat up to beat Big Sky

The 14th verse was a lot like the rest for the Flathead Bravettes, who downed Missoula Big Sky 46-45 for their 11th conference girls basketball win Saturday, all of them by eight points or less.

Avery Chouinard canned five 3-pointers and scored 17 points for Flathead, now 14-4 overall and 11-3 in league games. Akilah Kubi came up with 13 points, 12 rebounds and several assists, and the Bravettes nailed down a share of the Western AA regular-season title in white-knuckle fashion.

You can bemoan slow starts and missed bunnies all you want, but the team keeps pulling out wins: This one, on Senior Day, was the fifth that was either a one-possession game or took overtime.

“We’re just getting ready for Divisionals now, I guess,” said coach Sam Tudor, whose club trailed 21-15 after a frigid first half at the Flathead gym. Amazingly the Bravettes then went 9-for-9 from the field in the third quarter, turning a 33-24 deficit into a 37-36 lead.

That only set up a tense fourth period. Chouinard’s final three put the Bravettes up 44-43 with 1:55 left, and Kubi’s dish to fellow senior Tali Miller — for Miller’s only points — made it 46-43.

In the final 1:13 the Bravettes had to survive a turnover, a couple second chance opportunities by the Eagles and a hoop-and-harm by Big Sky’s Kaydynce Couture, who missed the tying free throw.

Since Big Sky only had two team fouls, they had to try to commit five more in seven seconds to even get Flathead to potentially miss a free throw. The Eagles came close — Kubi completed five inbounds passes before the game finally ended.

Couture had 16 points despite missing most of the first half with foul trouble. She did score plenty in the third quarter, eight points, but the Bravettes were on fire.

Twice Chouinard took kick-out passes from either Kubi or Kennedy Moore and drilled threes.

“They’re great,” Chouinard, whose personal 8-0 run — capped by a fading three at the end of the shot clock — cut Big Sky’s lead to 33-32 at 1:30 of the quarter. “They are two of the best. It’s even more special when I’m ready for them to post up, and then they kick it to me and I make a three. It really comes down to teamwork . I love it.”

Moore hit all four of her shots in the third period, including a three, and her tough baseline jumper put Flathead up going to the fourth quarter. She finished with 10 points and nine boards.

A 3-pointer by Sadie McQuinn and a driving layup by freshman Avory DeCoite put Big Sky back in front 43-41, but the Bravettes persevered.

“She is so good, man,” Tudor said of DeCoite, who had three steals and eight points. “She does so much. She missed a couple floaters at the end, thank goodness.

“I thought Akilah Kubi just had a great game, all around. Talk about a kid knowing her role and just doing the best she can. It helped that Avery knocked down a couple threes and kind of extended them out.”

The Western AA Divisional is next week on the Bravettes’ home court. They are the No. 2 seed.

“There’s a lot of good young talent in this division. But I think our seniors’ leadership really shined through tonight. We were losing at half, and we were kind of unfazed by it. We just went out and played.”

Big Sky 8 13 15 9 - 45

Flathead 9 6 22 9 - 46

MISSOULA BIG SKY — Audrey Hale 1-7 0-0 2, Gianna Janacaro 3-3 0-0 6, Kaydynce Couture 7-14 1-2 16, Avory DeCoite 2-8 4-5 8, Sadie McGuinn 1-6 0-0 3, Delaney Laird 2-3 0-0 4, Kyler Latrielle 2-6 0-0 6, Dakota Belarde 0-0 0-0 0, Maddie Jones 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-48 4-7 45.

FLATHEAD — Maddy Moy 1-8 1-2 3, Akilah Kubi 6-13 1-4 13, Kennedy Moore 4-10 1-2 10, Avery Chouinard 6-12 0-0 17, Tali Miller 1-1 0-0 2, Celie VandenBosch 0-0 1-2 1, Harlie Roth 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-44 4-10 46.

3-point goals — Big Sky 5-16 (Latrielle 2-6, McGuinn 1-5, Couture 1-1, Hale 0-4), Flathead 6-18 (Chouinard 5-11, Moore 1-4, Moy 0-3). Rebounds — Big Sky 20 (Janacaro 4, DeCoite 4), Flathead 37 (Kubi 12, Moore 9). Fouls — Big Sky 16, Flathead 13. Fouled out — Couture. Steals — Big Sky 7 (DeCoite 3), Flathead 4 (Moy 2). Blocks — Big Sky 1 (DeCoite), Flathead 1 (Kubi). Turnovers — Big Sky 7, Flathead 14.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been corrected to show Flathead, which tied Missoula Hellgate for the regular-season title, is the No. 2 seed into divisionals.