Second-half surge carries Spartans over Bravettes

It was a hectic battle that bordered on the ragged Friday at the Flathead gym, where the host Bravettes battled Missoula Sentinel in girls basketball.

It was the Spartans that got straightened out first, scoring the first 11 points of the second half to take a 29-23 lead in what ended up a 50-42 victory.

Emily McElmurry scored all of her 14 points after halftime for Sentinel (3-1 overall, 1-0 in the Western AA). Olivia Huntsinger added 12 points and CC Size added 10.

Both McElmurry and Huntsinger shrugged off slow starts — they combined to miss their 14 shots — to help the Spartans shoot 55 percent (11 of 20) after intermission. They’ll head to Glacier for a Saturday afternoon game with bolstered confidence.

Flathead (3-2, 0-1) will regroup for Butte (4 p.m. tipoff) knowing it’s a long season.

“Well, we got tired,” third-year coach Sam Tudor said. “We’ve got to work on that, and have got to work on our depth. That’s what tonight was for.”

Kennedy Moore scored a game-high 17 points for Flathead, and Akilah Kubi scored all of her eight points in the second quarter as the Bravettes forged a 23-19 halftime lead.

Kubi provided one high point with a flurry of second-quarter rebounds; Maddy Moy, seeing her first action of the season, provided another with a pair of third-quarter steals.

She converted the first into a layup, and the second into a kick-out pass to Moore for a stop-and-pop, buzzer-beating three.

That cut Sentinel’s lead to 33-32, but Huntsinger scored twice inside to start the fourth quarter to push the gap back to five. Size hit a 3-pointer at the 3:25 mark to make it 40-34, and McElmurry answered a Moore basket with a steal and layup for a 42-36 with 2:00 left.

Kubi had 13 boards, helping offset the 10 each snared by Huntsinger and Spartan forward Lily Allen.

“She was something on the rebounds. She’s been a great leader,” Tudor said of Kubi. “We’re still kind of putting the puzzle together here, and hopefully we get it put together at the right time.”

Moy had two points in limited time; her summer knee surgery has Tudor and her doctor taking a cautious approach.

“I think it’s important to ease her in and protect her a little bit,” he said of the senior, a key player on last year’s squad that finished third at the State AA — with a win over Sentinel. “And I think she’s got another weekend and then we’ll see a lot more of her. She changes things.”

Sentinel 8 11 14 17 - 50

Flathead 11 12 9 10 - 42

MISSOULA SENTINEL — Kassidy Kirgen 1-7 0-0 2, Lily Allen 2-4 0-2 4, Olivia Huntsinger 6-14 0-1 12, CC Size 3-8 2-2 10, Emily McElmurry 3-12 7-9 14, Monroe Mastro 2-3 0-0 5, Kaitlyn Hammett 1-1 0-0 3, Haley Woolsky 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-50 9-14 50.

FLATHEAD — Akilah Kubi 4-9 0-0 8, Kennedy Moore 6-16 3-6 17, Avery CHouinard 0-2 0-0 0, Tali Miller 2-6 0-0 4, Celi VandenBosch 2-5 1-5 4, Harlie Roth 1-2 0-0 2, Mattie Thompson 1-1 0-0 2, Maddy Moy 1-4 0-0 2, Sami Dalager 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-45 4-13 42.

3-point goals — Sentinel 5-14 (Size 2-3, Mastro 1-2, McElmurry 1-4, Hammett 1-1), Flathead 4-11 (Moore 2-6, Vandenbosch 2-2, Chouinard 0-2, Roth 0-1). Rebounds — Sentinel 41 (Allen 10, Huntsinger 10), Flathead 32 (Kubi 12, Moore 8). Fouls — Sentinel 12, Flathead 16. Fouled out — none. Steals — Sentinel 10 (McElmurry 3), Flathead 10 (Kubi 4). Turnovers — Sentinel 16, Flathead 17.

NOTE: An earlier version of this story had the incorrect starting tie for Flathead's game against Butte. It is scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday.