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Helena’s girls basketball team picked up its first win of the season on Tuesday, Nov. 16, using a strong second half to fuel a 42-29 victory against McAdory. (Reporter photo/Keith McCoy)

By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Managing Editor

HELENA – The Helena Huskies were able to overcome a three-point halftime deficit with a strong second half against McAdory on Tuesday night, Nov. 16 in their home opener.

The Huskies held the Yellow Jackets to just three points in the third quarter, while scoring 15 themselves to create some separation en route to a 42-29 victory.

Helena outscored the visitors 25-9 in the second half, which helped them pick up the victory.

The offense, however, was tough to come by for both teams.

In the opening quarter, the two teams combined for just four field goals and 10 points.

The Huskies, however, added two free throws in the quarter to make the difference, which gave them a 6-4 lead at the end of one.

The pace of the game picked up slightly in the second quarter, which led to strong offensive output from both teams, but McAdory found a rhythm to put together its best quarter of the game.

The Jackets hit three 3-pointers and totaled 16 points in the period to grab the lead.

Helena didn’t have a bad frame going into the half, scoring 11 points, but the Huskies still only hit three field goals in the period, which led to a 20-17 halftime deficit.

Out of the break, however, they looked like a completely different team on both ends of the floor.

The defense hounded McAdory with a zone that was tough to break, while the offense capitalized.

The Huskies started the quarter with a quick 6-0 run to storm in front for a 23-20 lead, then Olivia Johnigan started making her presence felt.

The junior knocked down a 3-pointer to extend the run to 9-0 and Helena’s lead to 26-20. The run for the Huskies was capped at 11-0 when the Jackets made a field goal, but the separation had already been created at that point.

The Huskies scored four more points in the period to take a 32-23 advantage into the final eight minutes of play.

In the fourth quarter, play turned a little more sloppy, but that was in large part to continued pressure from Helena’s defense, which led to more of a scramble offensively from both teams.

But after the Jackets had cut the deficit to 10 points, Johnigan stepped up with another 3-pointer to make it a 13-point game.

Helena extended the lead to as many as 15 points on two different occasions down the stretch, hitting one of two free throws on several different trips to the strip, before the Jackets added two more free throws to create the final score of 42-29.

Johnigan led the way with 11 points in the win, while Brooklyn Kelley added 10 and Alana Scott posted nine.

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