Day one of the Flaming Gorge Classic saw the Lady Braves claim their first win, while the Braves nearly knocked off the top ranked defending champions.

The Lady Braves played nearly everyone on their varsity bench including a host of sophomores to fend off the Steamboat Springs Lady Sailors, 49-45.  Star Valley led by as many as 13 points and led by double digits for much of the game before a stagnant fourth quarter allowed Steamboat to make a run.

In the end, some clutch free throws by Shae Wilkes, Klydi Brower and Dani Scherbel helped seal the game.

Scherbel led the effort with 14 points.

The Lady Braves may indeed have an excellent chance to win two in a row as they play the Layton Christian Academy, a squad that lost by nearly 40 points to the Lady Red Devils on Thursday.

As for the Braves, they found themselves down by double digits to the defending 4A state champion Gillette Camels almost immediately.

Gillette jumped out to a 19-8 lead and led 23-10 after just one period of play.  After calming down, the Braves started to answer but not before they fell behind by as many as 17 points.  At halftime, the Camels had a comfortable, 41-30 lead.

It was more of the same as the scoring picked up for both squads in the third as the Camels still had a ten-point lead, 58-48.  In the fourth, the Braves kept carving into the lead using free throws and timely three-point buckets and actually took the lead, 67-65 with 1:30 remaining.  The two squads traded body shots for the next 90 seconds before the Camels regained a two-point  advantage.  With just nine second left, Gillette missed the second of two free throws, leading 73-71.  The Braves rebounded and put up a last ditch effort which came up just short.

The Braves play Layton Christian Academy Friday morning, a squad that defeated Cheyenne Central, 70-56 on Thursday.