A promising start to her high school career gave way to a frustrating junior season for Flathead High’s Bridget Crowley, but those trials make her senior basketball campaign one to appreciate.

The Bravettes haven’t won a ton of games heading into Thursday’s battle with unbeaten Missoula Hellgate, but they’re a tight bunch finding open shots under first-year coach Sam Tudor.

And if there’s an extra rebound to be had, the 5-foot-7 Crowley seems to come up with it.

“Since the first practice she’s been our leading rebounder,” said Tudor, who took over Flathead’s program this season from Tricia Dean. “And she’s 3 or 4 inches shorter than everybody. A lot of it is hard work and hustle, but it also looks almost mathematical, where she just gets to these rebounds.

“I think right now she’s second on the team to Akilah (Kubi) and hasn’t played as many minutes.”

There’s a reason for that: plantar fasciitis. The tendon that runs across the bottom of your foot and around the heel can get inflamed, and when it does, there’s not much to do for it besides rest.

Crowley hasn’t been much for rest. There’s rugby, tennis, basketball and, until last fall, soccer. To ensure she’d play hoops this winter, she gave up the soccer pitch. That hurt, but it’s made her basketball season pretty much pain-free.

“Bridget’s biggest challenge — everybody’s biggest challenge — is holding her back,” said her mom, Jennifer Crowley. “It’s like Coach Dean used to tell her: ‘You’re giving 110 percent and everybody else is at 98, 100. You need to bring it down.’

“She’s been like that since she was a kid. Very kind and caring and then all of a sudden you have this rambunctious athlete.”

Bridget Crowley is the middle of three kids, including a sister Kimberly on the Flathead swim team. Parents Mark and Jennifer moved to Montana for Jennifer’s job as a traveling nurse. First was Great Falls, then came Kalispell. They put down roots on a plot of land outside town, sending their kids to Kila School.

By middle school Bridget was on the “Her-icanes” traveling team that included Glacier’s Kaylee Fritz.

“I had her in everything,” Jennifer said of Bridget. “Basketball just stuck.”

Older brother Liam is 6-foot-2 and, Bridget says, “the complete opposite of me.” On the verge of getting his degree in game design from a Florida college, Liam didn’t go the athletic route. So he got the height and Bridget seems to have gotten surplus in everything else.

But all this activity had a price.

“Pretty much since the summer going into my junior year,” she said of the foot issues. “It’s been quite a while. It’s gotten a lot better this year. But last year it was pretty rough.”

Her sophomore year Crowley was getting strong rotation minutes on the varsity team, after starting on the JV as a freshman. Last season she missed a handful of games and wasn’t the same player in others. She averaged 2.7 points and 3.1 rebounds a game.

“I definitely brought down my level of play and my aggressiveness,” she said. “I’m usually a pretty aggressive player. I think I still was, but it affected me a little bit.”

Still, at the end, she snared 11 rebounds in Flathead’s two games at the Western AA Divisional. That led the team. She’s averaging 5.4 boards a game so far this year, working among taller timber.

“I’m more of a hustle player, a little more aggressive,” she allows. “I feel like that’s the only thing that allows me to get those rebounds.”

“Everything she kinds of goes full throttle,” her mom said. “She learned the hard way that you need to rest your body.”

Physical therapy – now a professional goal for Crowley – and specialists and chiropractors helped clear the way for her senior season.

The hustle, along with a 4.0-grade point average, will allow her to compete in college basketball. She’s set on going to Division III Dominican University in Chicago.

Until then, there’s this senior season of hoops – a bit of a bonus considering her previous struggles and that we’re playing in a pandemic.

“It’s hard to know if games are going to be canceled or the season might end abruptly,” Crowley said this week. “That’s a little worrisome. Aside from that, everything’s been good.”

“She’s kind of an old soul,” says Tudor. “You talk to her and it’s like talking to an adult.

“She’s an extremely good student, and a very sharp cookie. And just the whole package – good leader, on and off the court.”

“I’ve been in athletics and sports my whole life. It’s definitely been a huge part of me,” Crowley said. “We definitely are having a good time. Our team is close-knit. We play differently and all have different personalities, but we work well together. It’s always a fun time.”