The Bravettes held with the Helena Bengals for three quarters, but in the end, Helena pulled away thanks to an 11-0 run and took a 46-35 victory in Western AA girls basketball Saturday at Flathead High School.

Lauryn Lieberg led the Bengals with 20 points — going 18 of 26 — while McKenna Pipinich added 11, including a pair of layups during Helena’s 4th quarter run. 

“I thought it was a really physical game, I thought we played really hard, just got off to a little bit of a slow start and had some turnovers,” Bravettes coach Kaylee Fox said. “They scored some points in transition where we were not recovering in the right positions, and we gave up some easy buckets that way to let them build some momentum.” 

Lexi Herion scored 11 to lead the Bravettes charge; Brynn Kossman added eight. 

After a lackluster first half from both offenses, Flathead took an 18-16 advantage into the locker room. 

Helena came out of the break with a 9-2 run to take a 25-20 lead and force a Flathead timeout. 

The Bravettes countered with seven straight points — capped by a Kossman bucket plus a foul — to take the lead back 27-25 late in the quarter. 

Pipinich hit a triple at the end of the quarter to make it 29-28 Helena just before the quarter break. 

Cassidy Smith started the 11-0 run at the beginning of the fourth with a give-and-go layup to put Helena up 31-29. Five Lieberg free throws and two Pipinich layups later, and the Bravettes faced a 40-29 deficit. 

“(Foul trouble) affected some of our matchups, some of their better players we wanted guarded by certain players and when we were in foul trouble, we had to use some different rotations on them to try and slow them down that way,” Fox said.  

Herion scored an and-one basket to bring Flathead within 42-33, but the Bravettes couldn’t overcome the late deficit. 

The Bravettes honored their two seniors, Teagan Flint and Tayler Greene, ahead of Friday’s victory against Hellgate. Flint did not play in either game this weekend with an injury, while Greene had two points.  

Flathead finishes the season 4-15 overall and 3-11 in conference. Helena finishes the regular season 9-10 and 7-7 in conference games. The Bengals will face crosstown rival Capital in a Western AA play-in game next week. 

Helena    8    8    13    17    -    46 

Flathead    12    6    11    6    -    35

HELENA — Lauryn Lieberg 1 18-26 20, Dakota Lieberg 0 3-4 3, Alexa Lundstrom 1 0-2 2, McKenna Pipinich 5 0-0 11, Kortney McKay 1 0-0 2, Emmie Bermingham 0 0-0 0, Cassidy Smith 2 0-2 4, Greta Peterse 2 0-0 4. Totals 12 21-34 46. 

FLATHEAD — Reese Rosenberg 0 0-0 0, Gracie Mae Kilmer 0 0-0 0, Tayler Greene 1 0-2 2, Caitlin Converse 0 7-8 7, Brynn Kossman 2 4-6 8, Grace Gall 3 0-0 7, Lexi Herion 2 7-11 11. Totals 8 18-27 35. 

3-point goals — Helena 1 (Pipinich), Flathead 1 (Gall). Fouls — Helena 24, Flathead 22. Fouled out — Petersen, Greene, Kossman.