The Flathead girls recovered from a slow start, but couldn’t close out a win, losing to Missoula Big Sky 46-41 on Thursday in a Western AA home basketball game.

Trailing by one point with 47 seconds left, the Bravettes (3-4 Western AA, 7-6 overall) fouled to send Big Sky to the line, but couldn’t pull in the rebound after the Eagles’ Jenna Sedgwick missed her second shot. Big Sky’s Kendra Joyce plucked the rebound and was fouled immediately, hitting both of her free throws to give the Eagles a lead they would ride out.

Big Sky (2-5, 6-9) hit 9 of 12 free throws in the final minute to ice the game.

“We’ve got to make layups and we’ve got to box out on free throws,” Flathead coach Karly Tait said.

Long lulls on offense doomed the Bravettes.

Flathead came out of the gates slow, falling behind 6-0 to start the game and 11-4 after the first quarter. The Bravettes hit just two shots in the quarter, and didn’t score for the final three minutes of the period.

After switching to the press to start the second, Flathead played with more energy, opening the quarter on a 9-1 run to take the lead. But, a strong close by Big Sky left the Bravettes down at half, 23-17.

Flathead battled back again in the third, getting the ball to the rim to outscore the Eagles 13-5 to start and take a 30-28 lead. The Bravettes extended the lead to 35-32 midway through the fourth quarter, but were held scoreless for the next three minutes, leading up to the final stretch.

“We’ve got to come ready to play,” Tait said. “We didn’t come ready to play ... We can’t get down 11-4 in the first quarter.”

Flathead held Big Sky to just 33 percent shooting from the field but struggled itself, hitting just 25 percent.

“Down the stretch we needed to make baskets and we didn’t,” Tait said.

Emma Andrews and Emily Russell each scored 15 points to lead the Bravettes. Russell pulled in a game-high nine rebounds.

Dani Baker scored 16 points and Sedgwick 15 for Big Sky.

The Bravettes head to Missoula on Saturday for an even bigger test, taking on No. 1 Sentinel (6-1, 14-1). Flathead is currently in a tie for fourth place in the conference with Helena High (3-4, 4-10).

“We can’t back down to anybody,” Tait said. “We still have a chance to get to state and host a playoff. We’ve got to believe we’re going to pull through this and it’s going to make us better.”

Big Sky 11 12 7 16 — 46

Flathead 4 13 15 9 — 41

BIG SKY — Dani Baker 4-8 7-7 16, Kendra Joyce 0-3 2-4 2, Jenna Sedgwick 4-9 7-12 15, Sidney Davis 3-7 0-1 6, Mackensie Freeman 1-3 0-0 3, Maddy Shaide 1-4 1-2 3, Jesse Schafer 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 13-39 18-28 46.

FLATHEAD — Emma Andrews 4-19 6-8 15, Dani Davis 1-5 1-3 3, Emily Russell 5-9 5-6 15, Jessika Abbrescia 1-6 0-2 2, Jenessa Heine 1-8 2-3 4, Tana Fountain 1-5 0-0 2. Totals: 13-52 14-22 41.

3-pointers — Big Sky 2-13 (Baker, Freeman), Flathead 1-4 (Andrews). Rebounds — Big Sky 29 (Baker, Sedgwick 6), Flathead 43 (Russell 9). Assists — Big Sky 2 (Sedgwick, Shaide), Flathead 6 (Davis 2). Blocks — Big Sky 5 (Davis 3), Flathead 0. Steals — Big Sky 10 (Sedgwick 3), Flathead 9 (Andrews 6). Fouls — Big Sky 22, Flathead 22. Technical fouls — none. Fouled out — Schafer, Heine, Abbrescia.