If the Flathead Bravettes were rusty from the two-week holiday break, they didn’t show it.

Flathead (3-3) scored 21 points in the first quarter and cruised to a 66-25 win over the Libby Lady Loggers in an inter-class girls basketball game Friday at Flathead High School.

The game was Flathead’s first since Dec. 21 and coach Lisa Hendrickson said her girls were happy to get away from the grind of practice.

“They were definitely getting sick of playing each other and ready to play a game,” she said.

The Bravettes harried Libby’s ballhandlers with aggressive man-to-man defense and turned turnovers into easy transition baskets as they built a big lead in the first half. Emma Andrews did the heavy lifting early with eight points in the first quarter, and Jenessa Heine took over late with 10 points in the second half.

“I just had a rough week in practice so I wanted to make coach happy and do my best,” Heine said.

Heine led all scorers with 17 points, Tiana Johnson added 14 off the bench and Andrews finished 10 points and six steals.

“We worked hard this week on putting some new stuff in and we got to use it today,” Hendrickson said.

“So it was good to have this nonconference game right after the break so you can get your feet wet again and get back on the court. I liked what I saw.”

Libby (1-4) trailed only 7-6 halfway through the first quarter when Andrews knocked down a baseline jumper to ignite a 14-0 run. Jessica Simmons, Andrews and Tana Fountain scored on consecutive possessions to extend Flathead’s lead to 15-6, and Sherwood closed out the first quarter two and a half minutes later with a driving layup that made the score 21-6.

The Bravettes cooled off in the second quarter, scoring just nine points in the frame, before picking up the pace in the second half. Johnson scored 10 of her points after the break and Flathead’s bench accounted for 18 second-half points. Ten Bravettes ended up scoring at least two points.

“Libby played really hard,” Hendrickson said. “They played really hard and I was proud of our girls for continuing to play hard. We got a lot of bodies in and I’m happy that everybody got to play.”

Taylor Quinn, Dalyn Germany and Shyla Stevenson scored six points apiece to lead Libby.

Libby returns to the court today with a nonconference game at Troy. Flathead opens Western AA conference play on Thursday with a home game against Missoula Big Sky.

Libby 6 7 6 6 — 25

Flathead 21 9 20 16 — 66

LIBBY - Taylor Quinn 2-3 2-4 6, Dayln Germany 2-8 2-4 6, Shyla Stevenson 3-9 0-0 6, Hailley Moe 1-3 1-2 3, Trinity Wallace 0-1 2-2 2, Devon Gallagher 0-4 2-4 2, Gavy Oliver 0-3 0-0 0, Dani Hawthorne 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 8-32 9-16 25.

FLATHEAD - Jenessa Heine 7-12 3-4 17, Tiana Johnson 6-12 2-2 14, Emma Andrews 4-10 2-2 10, Lizzie Sherwood 4-5 0-0 8, Kelsey Noland-Gillespie 2-6 1-3 5, Stephanie Wilson 2-4 0-2 4, Janae Moon 1-2 0-1 2, Amber Lucas 1-1 0-0 2, Tana Fountain 1-4 0-0 2, Jessica Simmons 1-2 0-0 2, Jessica Holmquist 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 29-61 8-14 66.

3-point goals - Libby 0-5, Flathead 0-4. Rebounds - Libby 23 (Moe 4, Oliver 2, Stevenson 2, Gallagher 2), Flathead 43 (Heine 7, Sherwood 5, Andrews 4, Wilson 4). Assists - Libby 1 (Moe), Flathead 8 (Sherwood 2, Simmons 2). Steals - Libby 11 (Gallagher 4, Moe 2, Quinn 2), Flathead 25 (Andrews 6, Johnson 4). Blocks - Libby 0, Flathead 0. Turnovers - Libby 28, Flathead 20. Fouls - Libby 14, Flathead 16. Technicals - none. Fouled out - Lucas.

BOYS

Flathead 54, Libby 33

Flathead (3-3) shook off a slow start and pulled away from Libby (0-4) with an 8-2 run late in the second quarter of an inter-class basketball game.

The Braves came up empty on their first four offensive possessions and didn’t score a field goal until Blaine Newman rolled in a left-handed layup four minutes in, but they heated up in the second quarter and carried that momentum into the third to pull ahead 43-24 after three frames.

“I feel like we were a little shaky at first but after we settled down it started to flow a little bit better,” Flathead guard Chandler Escalante said. “We just started to run our offense more. We started to actually look for the options instead of just forcing things, and started to hit our shots and get into our transition game.”

Matt Quist scored Flathead’s first six points of the second half and Escalante drilled a 3 at the end of the third quarter.

“We were certainly inconsistent out there, especially on the offensive end,” Flathead coach Fred Febach said. “At times we got a little impatient. We need to stay within what we’re trying to do and let it work for us. I think what happened was Libby did a nice job of taking away some things and it took us awhile to begin to adjust to it, but once we did I thought we were certainly much more effective in the second half.”

Center Adam Bradley led Flathead with 14 points, Escalante added 11 and Newman scored eight.

Libby’s Jared Winslow led all scorers with 16 points and drilled a deep 3-pointer in the third quarter, but he was held to 6 of 18 shooting and 1 of 7 from 3-point range.

“Winslow ended up with 16 and that one, I think he shot it from Bigfork didn’t he?” Flathead coach Fred Febach said.

“Holy smokes. But we know he can shoot and if he’s going to back up that far to shoot what do you do? He had to work hard for his points.”

Everyone on Libby’s team had to work hard for their points as Flathead made up for its slow start offensively with tenacious defense. The Braves forced 25 Libby turnovers and held the Loggers to 32 percent shooting.

“We met some goals that we set for ourselves defensively,” Febach said. “Offensively we’ve still got some work to do, but that will come with more time in practice.”

The game was the first for both teams after a nearly two-week holiday break and Escalante said Flathead stayed sharp with intense practices.

“I feel like we had really, really hard, long, tough practices where the entire team was focused and we all worked really hard,” he said.

Libby plays a nonconference game at Troy today and Flathead is idle until Thursday when it travels to Missoula Big Sky for its Western AA conference opener.

Libby 7 8 10 8 — 33

Flathead 10 16 17 11 — 54

LIBBY - Jared Winslow 6-18 3-5 16, Collin Johnson 3-8 0-0 7, Jonny Cielak 1-5 3-5 5, Michael Curtiss 1-4 1-2 3, Quinn Sullivan 1-2 0-0 2, Isaak Jones 0-1 0-0 0, Erik Lauer 0-0 0-2 0. Totals: 12-38 7-14 33.

FLATHEAD - Adam Bradley 5-8 4-5 14, Chandler Escalante 4-9 2-2 11, Blaine Newman 3-8 2-2 8, Matt Quist 3-6 0-0 6, Tommie Owens 2-3 0-0 4, Easton Johnson 1-2 1-2 3, Alex Croymans 1-6 0-0 2, Cody Norberg 1-1 0-0 2, Will Cronk 1-1 0-0 2, Trae Habel 1-4 0-0 2, Blayne Bailey 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 22-49 9-11 54.

3-point goals - Libby 2-10 (Johnson 1-2, Winslow 1-7), Flathead 1-7 (Escalante 1-3). Rebounds - Libby 25 (Winslow 8, Cielak 4), Flathead 35 (Bradley 7, Quist 7). Assists - Libby 10 (Cielak 2, Johnson 2, Winslow 2, Sullivan 2), Flathead 16 (Cronk 5, Newman 4, Habel 3). Steals - Libby 0, Flathead 2 (Newman, Habel). Blocks - Libby 0, Flathead 1 (Croymans). Turnovers - Libby 25, Flathead 20. Fouls - Libby 17, Flathead 15. Technicals - none. Fouled out - Sullivan.